Volume 121 Treatises 96: Food and Money 2, Taxes, Labor Service, and Granaries

志九十六

Treatise 96.

食貨二

Food and Money II.

賦役倉庫

Taxes, Labor Service, and Granaries.

賦役一曰賦則。清初入關，首除明季加派三餉。時賦稅圖籍多為流寇所毀。順治三年，諭戶部稽覈錢糧原額，匯為賦役全書，悉復明萬曆間之舊。計天下財賦，惟江南、浙江、江西為重，三省中尤以蘇、松、嘉、湖諸府為最。六年，戶科右給事中董篤行請頒行易知由單。八年，世祖親政，分命御史巡行各省，察民間利病。蘇松巡按秦世楨條奏八事：曰，田地令業主自丈，明註印冊；曰，額定錢糧，俱填易知由單，設有增減，另給小單，以免奸胥藉口；曰，由單詳開總散數目，花戶姓名，以便磨對；曰，設立滾單，以次追比；曰，收糧聽里戶自納簿櫃，加鈐司府印信；曰，解放先急後緩，勒限掣銷；曰，民差查田均派，與排門冊對驗；曰，備用銀兩，不得額外透支，徵解銀冊，布政司按季提取，年終報部。自後錢糧積弊，釐剔漸清。

The first part of taxes and corvée service is titled "Rules on Tax Assessment." As soon as the Qing entered China proper, they abolished the three extra military levies the late Ming had imposed. By then, roving rebels had destroyed much of the tax registers and cadastral records. In Shunzhi 3 (1646), the throne ordered the Ministry of Revenue to verify original tax quotas, compile the Complete Register of Taxes and Corvée, and restore rates to the Ming Wanli baseline. Nationwide, Jiangnan, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi carried the heaviest tax load; within them, Suzhou, Songjiang, Jiaxing, and Huzhou bore the most. In year six, Dong Duxing of the Household Section asked that plain-language tax notices be distributed. In year eight, once the Shunzhi Emperor assumed direct rule, he sent censors to tour the provinces and report on local grievances and remedies. Qin Shizhen, censor touring Suzhou and Songjiang, submitted eight proposals: landowners should measure their own fields and record the results in stamped registers; second, fixed tax quotas should appear on plain-language notices, with separate slips for any change so corrupt clerks could not invent fees; third, notices should list totals, line items, and household names for audit; fourth, use rolling collection lists to collect taxes in strict order; fifth, let village households pay grain directly into official chests, stamped by prefectural and provincial seals; sixth, collect urgent levies first and defer lesser ones, with firm deadlines for clearing accounts; seventh, apportion corvée by land survey and verify against household registers; eighth, reserve funds must not be overdrawn; the provincial treasurer should collect remittance registers quarterly and report to the ministry at year-end. After that, entrenched abuses in tax collection were steadily cleaned up.

十一年，命右侍郎王宏祚訂正賦役全書，先列地丁原額，次荒亡，次實徵，次起運存留。起運分別部寺倉口，存留詳列款項細數。其新墾地畝，招徠人丁，續入冊尾。每州縣發二本，一存有司，一存學宮。賦稅冊籍，有丈量冊，又稱魚鱗冊，詳載上中下田則。有黃冊，歲記戶口登耗，與賦役全書相表裡。有赤歷，令百姓自登納數，上之布政司，歲終磨對。有會計冊，備載州縣正項本折錢糧，註明解部年月。復採用明萬曆一條鞭法。一條鞭者，以府、州、縣一歲中夏稅秋糧存留起運之額，均徭里甲土貢雇募加銀之額，通為一條，總徵而均支之。至運輸給募，皆官為支撥，而民不與焉。頒易知由單于各花戶。由單之式，每州縣開列上中下則，正雜本折錢糧，末綴總數，於開徵一月前頒之。又佐以截票、印簿、循環簿及糧冊、奏銷冊。截票者，列地丁錢糧實數，分為十限，月完一分，完則截之，鈐印於票面，就印字中分，官民各執其半，即所謂串票也。印簿者，由布政司頒發，令州縣納戶親填入簿，季冬繳司報部。循環簿者，照賦役全書款項，以緩急判其先後，按月循環徵收。糧冊者，造各區納戶花名細數，與一甲總額相符。奏銷冊者，合通省錢糧完欠支解存留之款，匯造清冊，歲終報部核銷。定制可謂周且悉矣。

In year eleven, Wang Hongzuo was ordered to revise the tax register: original land and poll quotas first, then wasteland and abandoned fields, actual collections, and finally forwarded versus retained amounts. Forwarded revenue was broken out by ministry, temple, and granary; retained funds listed every line item. Newly opened land and settled households were added at the register's end. Each county issued two copies—one for the magistrate, one for the county school. Tax records included survey registers—fish-scale books—listing upper, middle, and lower land grades. Yellow registers tracked yearly changes in household rolls, paired with the complete tax register. Red ledgers had taxpayers record payments themselves, submit them to the provincial treasurer, and reconcile at year-end. Accounting books listed each county's regular taxes in grain and silver, with remittance dates to the ministry. The Ming Wanli single-whip tax system was reinstated. Under the single whip, a county's summer tax, autumn grain, retained and forwarded shares, corvée, lijia duties, tribute, hired labor, and silver surcharges were merged into one levy, collected once and apportioned evenly. Transport and hired labor were paid by the state, leaving the populace out of it. Plain-language tax notices went to every registered household. Each notice listed land grades and regular and miscellaneous taxes in grain and silver, with totals at the end, issued a month before collection opened. They were supplemented by installment tickets, stamped registers, revolving collection books, grain rolls, and year-end settlement memorials. Installment tickets showed actual land and poll tax due in ten monthly shares; when paid, the ticket was cut through the seal, half kept by official and taxpayer—the linked-ticket system. Stamped registers came from the provincial treasurer; taxpayers entered payments themselves, and counties submitted them quarterly in winter to the ministry. Revolving books followed the tax register, prioritizing urgent items and collecting them month by month in rotation. Grain registers listed every paying household in a district, matching each lijia unit's total. Year-end settlement memorials summed a province's collected and outstanding taxes, disbursements, forwarding, and retention for ministry audit. The regulations were remarkably thorough.

十五年，江西御史許之漸言：「財賦大害，莫如蠹役，官以參罰去，而此蠹役盤踞如故。請飭撫按清查，甚者處以極刑，庶積弊可冀廓清。」工科給事中史彪古請嚴禁正供外加派，並將申飭私派之旨刊入易知由單，俾民共曉。帝以所奏皆切中時弊，下所司詳議以聞。

In year fifteen, Censor Xu Zhijian of Jiangxi wrote: "The worst fiscal abuse is corrupt clerks—officials may be impeached and removed, but the clerks stay entrenched. Order governors and censors to investigate; execute the worst offenders, so entrenched abuses may finally be cleared." Shi Biaogu of the Engineering Section asked to ban surcharges beyond regular quotas and print the ban on private levies in plain-language tax notices so everyone would know. The Emperor found the memorials hit current abuses squarely and ordered the relevant offices to deliberate and report back.

聖祖即位，嚴申州縣官隱匿地畝、不納錢糧、捏報新墾之禁，更定州縣催徵議敘經徵督催各官處分。其州縣官挪用正款、捏稱民欠，及加派私徵者，罪之。帝以由單款項繁多，民不易曉，命將上中下等則地每畝應徵銀米實數列單內；由單報部，違限八月者，罪州縣衛所及轉報官。給事中姚文然上言：「災荒蠲免，有收完在前奉令在後者，以本年應蠲錢糧抵次年應納正賦，名曰流抵，自應載入由單，俾人沾實惠。但部題定額由單，於上年十一月頒發州縣，磨算編造，必在九十月間，而各省題報災傷，夏災以六月，秋災以九月，部中行查覆奏，咨行撫臣，飭知地方官吏，展轉需時，計已在頒發由單之後，其勢無由填入。應請於流抵之下年填入由單，以杜其弊。」下部議行。

When the Kangxi Emperor ascended the throne, he tightened bans on concealing land, evading taxes, and fabricating new reclamation, and revised penalties for collectors and supervisors. Officials who diverted regular funds, invented popular arrears, or levied unauthorized surcharges were punished. Finding tax notices too complex, the Emperor ordered each notice to list actual silver and grain per mu for upper, middle, and lower land grades; notices not reported to the ministry by the eighth month would punish counties, garrisons, and forwarding officials. Yao Wenran wrote: "When disaster relief came after taxes were already collected, that year's remission was applied to next year's regular levy—the rolling offset—and should appear on tax notices so taxpayers actually benefited. But fixed notices went out in the eleventh month of the prior year and had to be compiled in the ninth and tenth months, while summer disasters were reported in the sixth month and autumn ones in the ninth—by the time the ministry verified and notified governors, notices were already printed, so offsets could not be included. Rolling offsets should be entered on the following year's notices to close this loophole." The ministry approved and carried it out.

直省徵收錢糧，夏稅於五六月，秋糧於九十月，其報部之數，責成各司於奏銷時詳加磨勘，按年送京畿道刷卷。自世祖定賦稅之制，正雜款繁多，咨題違錯，駁令查覆，印官即借部駁之名，擅行私派；其正賦錢糧本有定額，地方官吏遇有別項需用，輒令設法，實與加派無二。至是下令嚴禁，罷州縣欠糧、留任候代、完全開復之制。七年，以夏稅秋糧定限稍遲，恐誤協餉，仍復舊制，州縣開徵後，隨收隨解。凡各省地丁錢糧，巡撫於歲終奏銷，詳列通省錢糧起運存留、撥充兵餉、辦買顏料及餘賸之數，造冊具報。其黃冊、會計冊繁費無益，悉罷之。十五年，嚴定官民隱田罪例。官吏查出隱田，分別議敘。人民舉首隱地逾十頃者，即以其地與之。

In metropolitan provinces, summer tax was collected in the fifth and sixth months and autumn grain in the ninth and tenth; each bureau audited reported amounts at settlement and sent them yearly to the Capital Intendant for review. After Shunzhi fixed the tax system, regular and miscellaneous items multiplied; when memorials erred and the ministry ordered review, seal clerks used ministry rejections as pretexts for private levies; regular taxes had fixed quotas, yet when officials needed other funds they always found ways to raise them—no different from surcharges. Strict prohibition followed, ending the practice of letting indebted counties keep officials in post until taxes were cleared. In year seven, fearing late summer and autumn deadlines would delay military funds, the old rule returned: counties forwarded taxes as soon as they collected them. Each province's land and poll taxes were settled at year-end by the governor, who reported forwarding, retention, military pay, tribute purchases, and surpluses in full. Yellow registers and accounting books were costly and useless and were abolished. In year fifteen, penalties for concealed land by officials and commoners were tightened. Officials who uncovered hidden land received graded commendations. Commoners who reported more than ten qing of hidden land received it as reward.

十八年，令州縣每歲將日收錢糧流水簿解司磨對，罷赤歷。自順治間訂正賦役全書，至是二十餘年，戶口土田，視昔有加，按戶增徭，因地加賦，條目紛繁，易於淆混。二十四年，下令重修，止載起運存留漕項河工等切要款目，刪去絲秒以下尾數，名曰簡明賦役全書。二十六年書成。廷議以舊書遵行已久，歷年增減地丁銀米，俱有奏銷冊籍可稽，新書遂罷頒行。是歲諭各省悉免刊刻由單，以杜派費擾民之弊。

In year eighteen, counties had to submit daily collection ledgers yearly for audit; red ledgers were abolished. More than twenty years after the Shunzhi tax register, population and land had grown, corvée rose with households and taxes with fields, and entries became confusing. In year twenty-four, a revision kept only essential items—forwarding, retention, grain transport, river works—and dropped fractional tails, titled the Concise Tax Register. It was finished in year twenty-six. Court debate held the old register had long been in use and yearly changes were traceable in settlement books, so the new edition was never issued. That year all provinces were exempted from printing tax notices to stop collection fees harassing taxpayers.

二十八年，令各省巡撫於每年奏銷時，盤查司庫錢糧。先是各州縣催徵用二聯串票，官民分執，不肖有司句結奸胥，以已完作未完，多徵作少徵，弊竇日滋。至是議行三聯串票，一存有司，一付役應比，一付民執照。其後更刊四聯串票，一送府，一存根，一給花戶，一於完糧時令花戶別投一櫃以銷欠。未幾，仍復三聯串票之制。各省紳衿本有優免丁銀之例，而豪強土著，往往詭寄濫免，更有紳衿包攬錢糧耗羨，盡入私橐，官民交累。有詔，詭寄地畝，悉退還業戶。三十年，以由單既停，令直省州縣衛所照賦役全書科則輸納數目，勒石署門外。復諭民間隱匿地畝，限兩年內自首，尋又展限兩年。諭福建清丈沿海地畝，釐定疆界，湖南幅員遼闊，先飭民人自行丈量，官府再事抽丈，隱漏者罪之。

In year twenty-eight, governors had to audit provincial treasuries at annual settlement. Previously counties used two-part linked tickets; corrupt officials and clerks marked paid taxes unpaid and heavy collections as light, and abuses grew daily. Three-part linked tickets were adopted: one for the magistrate, one for the collector, one for the taxpayer. Later four-part tickets were printed: one to the prefecture, one stub, one to the household, and one deposited when grain was paid to clear arrears. Soon the three-part ticket system was restored. Provincial gentry had poll-tax exemptions, but powerful locals falsely registered land for illicit relief; some gentry monopolized tax collection and kept surcharges, burdening officials and taxpayers alike. An edict ordered falsely registered land returned to true owners. In year thirty, with tax notices discontinued, metropolitan counties and garrisons carved tax rates from the register on stone tablets outside their gates. Concealed land had to be reported within two years, soon extended another two. Fujian was to survey coastal fields and fix boundaries; in vast Hunan, people measured their own land first, then officials sampled, punishing concealment.

時徵收錢糧，官吏往往私行科派，其名不一。闔邑通里共攤同出者，名曰軟抬，各里各甲輪流獨當者，名曰硬駝，於是設滾單以杜其弊。其法於每里之中，或五戶或十戶一單，於某名下註明田地若干、銀米若干、春秋應各完若干，分為十限，發與甲首，依次滾催，自封投櫃。一限既定，二限又依次滾催，其有停擱不完不繳者嚴懲，民以為便。浙江、湖北、山東諸省匠班銀，均歸入地丁徵收。四十五年，九江府丈出濱江蘆洲地畝三千餘頃，均按下則起科。

At the time, officials often imposed unauthorized surcharges under many names. District-wide shared surcharges were called soft carrying; rotating lijia-only levies were hard camel; rolling lists were introduced to stop both. Each li used lists of five or ten households noting land, silver, grain, and spring and autumn dues in ten installments; li heads collected in order while payers sealed payments and deposited them themselves. Once one installment was done, the next rolled forward; defaulters were punished severely, and taxpayers welcomed the system. In Zhejiang, Hubei, Shandong, and elsewhere, artisan-corvée silver was folded into land and poll taxes. In year forty-five, Jiujiang surveyed over three thousand qing of riverside reed land, all taxed at the lowest rate.

五十一年，四川巡撫年羹堯上言：「四川錢糧原額百六十一萬兩有奇，現僅徵及十分之一，宜立勸懲法，五年內增及原額之四五者准升，不及二分停升，不及一分降調，無增者褫其職。」御史段曦上疏駁之，略言：「川省自經明季兵燹，地廣人稀。我朝勘定之後，雖疊次清查，增報僅及原額十分之一。近日撫臣加意催查，增至二萬六千餘兩。今欲五年內增及原額十之二或十之四五，是增現糧三四倍也。賢能之吏，必罹不及分數之參處，不肖者抑勒首報，滋擾無窮。請川省隱漏錢糧，徹底清查，不必另立勸懲之法。」從之。五十九年，諭：「嗣後各州縣錢糧，隨徵隨解。若州縣批解後，而布政司抵充雜派，扣批不發，許州縣逕申督撫。」次年，又令各督撫將倉糧虧空，限三年補完。

In year fifty-one, Governor Nian Gengyao of Sichuan wrote: "Sichuan's original tax quota exceeded 1.61 million taels; only a tenth is collected. Set rewards and penalties: within five years, reach four or five tenths of quota for promotion; below two tenths, no promotion; below one tenth, demotion; no increase, dismissal." Censor Duan Xi objected, writing in brief: "Since the Ming wars, Sichuan has been vast and sparsely settled. After our dynasty surveyed the province, repeated audits raised collections to only a tenth of the original quota. Recently the governor intensified collection, raising revenue by more than twenty-six thousand taels. Demanding two tenths or four or five tenths of the quota within five years would triple or quadruple current collections. Capable officials would be impeached for missing quotas; corrupt ones would coerce false reports, harassing the people endlessly. Investigate concealed Sichuan taxes thoroughly instead of inventing new reward-and-punishment rules." The throne agreed. In year fifty-nine, an edict ordered: "Henceforth all counties shall forward taxes as they collect them. If the provincial treasurer applied forwarded funds to miscellaneous levies and withheld payment, counties could appeal directly to the governor." The next year, governors had to make up granary deficits within three years.

聖祖在位六十年，政事務為寬大。不肖官吏，恆恃包荒，任意虧欠，上官亦曲相容隱，勒限追補，視為故事。世宗在儲宮時，即深悉其弊。即位後，諭戶部、工部，嗣後奏銷錢糧米石物價工料，必詳查覈實，造冊具奏。以少作多、以賤作貴、數目不符、覈估不實者，治罪。並令各督撫嚴行稽查所屬虧空錢糧，限三年補足，毋得藉端掩飾，苛派民間。限滿不完，從重治罪。瀕江沿海地，定例十年一清丈。雍正元年，諭令隨時清查，坍者豁免，漲者升科。

During the Kangxi Emperor's sixty-year reign, policy was broadly lenient. Corrupt officials routinely invoked disaster exemptions to run deficits; superiors connived and set repayment deadlines as routine. Even as crown prince, the Yongzheng Emperor understood these abuses well. After enthronement, he told the Ministries of Revenue and Works that all settlement of taxes, grain, prices, and materials must be audited, registered, and memorialized in full. Reporting less as more, cheap as dear, mismatched figures, or false valuations was punishable. Governors had to audit tax deficits under their jurisdiction, make them up within three years, and not conceal them or levy harsh surcharges on the people. Anyone who failed to pay in full by the deadline was punished with aggravated penalties. Along rivers and the seacoast, the standing rule called for a full land survey once every ten years. In Yongzheng 1 (1723), the throne ordered ad hoc inspections: land lost to erosion would be exempted, while newly accreted land would be brought onto the tax rolls.

二年，以山西巡撫諾敏、布政使高成齡請提解火耗歸公，分給官吏養廉及其他公用。火耗者，加於錢糧正額之外。蓋因本色折銀，鎔銷不無折耗，而解送往返，在在需費，州縣徵收，不得不稍取盈以補折耗之數，重者數錢，輕者錢餘。行之既久，州縣重斂於民，上司苛索州縣，一遇公事，加派私徵，名色繁多，又不止於重耗而已。康熙季年，陝甘總督年羹堯請酌留秦省火耗充各官用度，餘者捐出彌補虧空，聖祖不許。至是諾敏等復以為言。詔從其請。諾敏又請限定分數。帝以「酌定分數，則將來竟成定例，必致有增無減。今耗羨與正項同解，州縣皆知重耗無利於己，孰肯加徵？若將應得之數扣存，勢必額外取盈，浮於應得之數」。於是定為官給養廉之制。河南巡撫石文焯請將捐穀耗羨充公，帝曰：「耗羨存庫，所以備地方公用也。國家經費，自有常額，豈可以耗羨牽入正項，致滋另取挪移諸弊乎！」又諭戶部曰：「州縣虧空錢糧，有闔屬百姓代償者，名曰樂捐，實無異強派，應飭禁止。」

In the second year, at the petition of Shanxi Governor Nuo Min and Provincial Treasurer Gao Chengling, meltage surcharges were ordered submitted to the public coffers and disbursed for officials' integrity stipends and other public expenses. The meltage surcharge was an extra levy imposed on top of the regular land-tax and grain quotas. Because grain paid in kind had to be converted to silver—and melting always entailed some loss—while transport to and from the capital incurred costs at every stage, local officials had no choice but to collect a little extra to cover the shrinkage: as much as several cash in the heaviest cases, or a fraction of a cash in the lightest. Over time, counties grew heavy-handed in collecting from the people, while superiors in turn squeezed the counties. Official errands became pretexts for unauthorized surcharges under countless names, until the abuse far exceeded mere heavy meltage. Near the end of the Kangxi reign, Governor-General Nian Gengyao of Shaanxi and Gansu proposed retaining part of the province's meltage for official expenses and contributing the rest toward fiscal shortfalls. The Kangxi Emperor refused. Nuo Min and his colleagues now raised the proposal again. The throne approved their petition. Nuo Min also asked that a fixed rate be set. The Emperor replied: "Once a discretionary rate is fixed, it will harden into precedent and can only rise, never fall. Now that meltage surpluses are remitted together with regular revenues, every county knows that padding meltage does it no good—who would still dare to over-collect? If officials were allowed to withhold what they were due, they would inevitably collect beyond quota, taking more than their allotted share." The court therefore established the system of state-paid integrity stipends. Henan Governor Shi Wenzhuo proposed putting donated-grain meltage surpluses into the public treasury. The Emperor answered: "Meltage surpluses are kept in store precisely to meet local public needs. The state's budget has its fixed quotas. How can meltage surpluses be folded into regular revenues, inviting fresh abuses of unauthorized levies and diversion of funds?" He also told the Board of Revenue: "When county officials ran short on land tax and grain, they sometimes made the whole district pay on their behalf under the name of 'voluntary contributions'—which was forced levy in all but name. Such practices must be forbidden."

蘇、鬆浮糧多於他省，詔蠲免蘇州額徵銀三十萬，松江十五萬，永著為例。江蘇巡撫張楷疏言：「江蘇每年額賦，除蠲免浮糧外，應實徵銀三百五十萬有奇。歷年積欠八百八十一萬有奇，計已達千二百餘萬。竭小民一歲所獲，勢難全完。現籌徵收之法，本年新糧，責令全完，舊欠勻作十分，自明年始，年徵其一，十年而畢，每歲奏銷時，另冊造報。嘉定一縣積欠至百四十餘萬，請勻作十五分分徵，上海、崑山、常熟、華亭、宜興、吳江、武進、婁、長洲九縣皆積至四十萬，應勻作十二分分徵，以紓民力。」帝深納之。

Because surplus-grain assessments in Suzhou and Songjiang exceeded those of any other province, the throne remitted 300,000 taels of Suzhou's quota and 150,000 taels of Songjiang's, making the reduction permanent. Jiangsu Governor Zhang Kai wrote: "Apart from the remission of surplus-grain assessments, Jiangsu's annual quota should yield a little over 3,500,000 taels in actual collection. Arrears accumulated over the years came to more than 8,810,000 taels, bringing the total owed to over 12,000,000. Even if common people surrendered everything they earned in a year, full payment would still be impossible. The collection plan was this: the current year's new levy would be collected in full; old arrears would be spread across ten equal installments, one collected each year beginning the next year until the debt was cleared; each year at account submission, a separate register would be filed. Jiading County alone owed more than 1,400,000 taels and asked that its arrears be collected in fifteen installments. Shanghai, Kunshan, Changshu, Huating, Yixing, Wujiang, Wujin, Lou, and Changzhou—nine counties in all—each owed about 400,000 taels and should pay in twelve installments to ease the people's burden." The Emperor warmly endorsed the proposal.

各省中賦稅繁重，蘇、松而外，以浙江嘉、湖二府為最。五年，詔減十之一，共銀八萬餘兩。又命浙省南、秋等米，每年額徵作十分覈算，別為一本題銷，如完解不全，罪承督各官。各省錢糧完欠細數，官吏多不宣示，胥吏因緣為奸，虧空拖欠，視為故常。詔各督、撫、布政飭州縣官每年將各鄉里完欠之數，呈送覆覈，張貼本里，俾民周知。如有中飽，許人民執串票具控。其分年帶徵之項，亦應將花戶每年應完之數，詳列榜示，俾不得額外溢徵。七年，蠲浙江額賦十之三，共十萬兩。其江蘇逋賦，自壬子年始，侵蝕包攬之項，分十年帶徵。實在民欠之項，分二十年帶徵。本年完納之項若干，次年即依其數蠲免額徵之糧。如額外多完，次年亦按多完之數蠲免。

Of all the provinces burdened with heavy levies, none after Suzhou and Songjiang surpassed the prefectures of Jiaxing and Huzhou in Zhejiang. In the fifth year, a tenth of the quota was cut by imperial decree—more than 80,000 taels in all. Zhejiang's early- and autumn-rice quotas were also to be reckoned yearly in ten parts, entered in a separate account for reporting; failure to deliver in full would bring punishment upon the supervising officials concerned. Across the provinces, officials seldom disclosed the exact figures of tax paid and owed, leaving clerks room to cheat; shortfalls and arrears were treated as business as usual. The throne ordered governors, governor-generals, and provincial treasurers to require county officials each year to submit village-by-village figures of payment and arrears for verification, post the totals locally, and let the people know exactly where they stood. If officials skimmed collections, taxpayers were allowed to produce their receipt strips and bring formal charges. For arrears collected in annual installments, the amount each registered household owed each year was also to be posted in detail, so that no extra levy beyond the quota could be imposed. In the seventh year, a third of Zhejiang's quota was remitted—100,000 taels in all. Jiangsu's overdue levies from the renzi year onward were split: sums lost to embezzlement or unauthorized collection would be recovered over ten years. Genuine arrears owed by taxpayers would be spread over twenty years. Whatever amount was fully paid in a given year would be deducted from the next year's quota levy in equal measure. If taxpayers paid more than required, the following year's remission would match the surplus they had paid.

十一年，安徽巡撫徐本條陳徵糧事宜：一，州縣徵收糧櫃，請逕用州縣封條；二，花戶完糧，宜仍用三聯串票；三，小民零星錢糧，一錢以下者，許其變通完納制錢。許之。十二年，修賦役全書。凡額徵地丁錢糧商牙課稅內，應支官役俸工驛站料價，以及應解本折絹布顏料銀硃銅錫茶蠟等項，分晰原額新徵總散之數，務為精覈。自後十年修輯一次。

In the eleventh year, Anhui Governor Xu Ben proposed grain-collection reforms: first, county grain chests should use county seals directly; second, registered households should still receive triplicate receipt strips when paying grain; third, for scattered payments under one qian, taxpayers might pay in standard copper cash at the collector's discretion. The proposals were approved. In the twelfth year, work began on revising the Complete Book of Levies and Corvée. Within the quota land and poll taxes and commercial levies, every disbursement—for official salaries, corvée wages, courier costs, and goods due in kind or as converted tribute, from silk and cloth to dyes, vermilion, copper, tin, tea, and wax—was to be traced with meticulous precision through original quotas, new assessments, totals, and line-item breakdowns. Thereafter the book was to be revised once every ten years.

江南、湖廣等省，蘆洲坍漲靡定，定制五年一清丈，不肖官吏，恆藉以納賄舞弊。乾隆元年，下詔清查。又禁各省虛報開墾。大學士硃軾請禁民間田地丈量首報。御史蔣炳奏州縣徵糧三弊：一，田畝科則不同，請每年照部頒定額，覈明刊示；一，州縣拆封如有短平，即於袋面註明數目，令花戶自行補交；一，州縣設立官匠，傾銷銀兩，勒索包完，侵漁重利，嗣後准花戶隨處傾銷，官匠永行禁革。皆從之。諭改減江南、浙江白糧十二萬石，免蘇、鬆浮糧額銀二十萬石。

In Jiangnan, Huguang, and other provinces, reed-bank sandbars shifted endlessly through erosion and accretion. Surveys were required every five years, and corrupt officials routinely turned the rule into an occasion for bribery and fraud. In Qianlong 1 (1736), the throne ordered a thorough inspection. False reporting of land reclamation was also forbidden in every province. Grand Secretary Zhu Shi asked that common people be barred from initiating field surveys on their own. Censor Jiang Bing identified three abuses in county grain collection. First, tax rates per mu varied; he asked that each year the Ministry's fixed quotas be verified and publicly posted; second, when sealed bags were opened and the silver fell short on the scales, the shortage should be marked on the bag and taxpayers allowed to make up the difference themselves; third, counties had set up official silversmiths to melt silver, extort fees for completing payment, and skim heavy profits; henceforth taxpayers might have silver melted wherever they chose, and official silversmiths were abolished for good. All were approved. An edict revised the reduction of tribute white grain in Jiangnan and Zhejiang by 120,000 shi, and remitted 200,000 taels of quota silver for surplus-grain assessments in Suzhou and Songjiang.

自山西提解火耗後，各直省次第舉行。其後又酌定分數，各省文職養廉二百八十餘萬兩，及各項公費，悉取諸此。及帝即位，廷臣多言其不便。帝亦慮多取累民，臨軒試士，即以此發問，復令廷臣及督撫各抒所見。大學士鄂爾泰、刑部侍郎錢陳群、湖廣總督孫家淦皆言：「耗羨之制，行之已久，徵收有定，官吏不敢多取，計已定之數，與未定以前相較，尚不逮其半，是跡近加賦而實減徵也。且火耗歸公，一切陋習悉皆革除，上官無勒索之弊，州縣無科派之端，小民無重耗之累，法良意美，可以垂諸久遠。」御史趙青藜亦言：「耗羨歸公，裒多益寡，寬一分則受一分之賜。且既存耗羨之名，自不得求多於正額之外，請無庸輕議變更。」惟御史柴潮生以為耗羨乃今日大弊。詔從鄂爾泰諸臣議。先是各省解京餉銀，有隨平陋規。雍正初，曾有詔禁止。嗣因清查部庫虧空二百五十餘萬，怡親王議以京餉平餘彌補，每餉銀千兩，收平餘二十五兩，俱於耗羨內動支起解，較從前陋規減省已多。尋以彌補足額，減收其半。至是停止解部，存儲司庫，以充本省賑濟荒災及裨益民生之舉。自明以來，江南歲額錢糧地丁漕項蘆課雜稅之外，復有所謂雜辦者，款目甚多，匯入地丁分數奏銷。逮編賦役全書，止載應解之款，未列雜辦原委。至是乃妥定章程，以杜浮收，其實在缺額有累官民者豁免之，禁州縣徵糧浮收零尾。

After Shanxi pioneered the submission of meltage surcharges to the public treasury, every metropolitan province followed suit in turn. Rates were later fixed as well. Civil officials' integrity stipends across the provinces came to more than 2,800,000 taels, and every category of public expense was funded from meltage surpluses. When the new emperor took the throne, many court officials argued that the system was unsatisfactory. The Emperor himself worried that excessive collection would burden the people. At the palace examination he made the meltage system the topic of debate, and again ordered court officials and provincial governors to submit their views. Grand Secretary Ortai, Vice Minister of Justice Qian Chenqun, and Huguang Governor-General Sun Jiahan all argued: "The meltage system has long been in place with fixed rates, and officials dare not over-collect. Measured against what was taken before rates were fixed, the fixed amount is still less than half. It may look like an added levy, but in practice collection was reduced. Moreover, once meltage went to the public treasury, old abuses were swept away: superiors could no longer extort, counties had no pretext for unauthorized levies, and common people were freed from crushing meltage charges. The law was sound, the intent admirable, and fit to endure for generations." Censor Zhao Qingli added: "With meltage surpluses in the public treasury, the abundant are tapped to help the scarce. Every fraction by which collection is eased is a fraction of relief the people receive. And since the meltage surplus still bears its own name, officials cannot legitimately demand more beyond the regular quota. He asked that the system not be lightly reopened for debate." Only Censor Chai Chaosheng maintained that meltage surpluses were the great fiscal abuse of the age. An edict upheld the position of Ortai and his colleagues. Previously, when provinces forwarded tribute silver to the capital, a corrupt custom of accompanying scale adjustment had prevailed. Early in the Yongzheng reign, an edict had forbidden the practice. Later, when an audit uncovered a Ministry treasury shortfall of more than 2,500,000 taels, Prince Yi proposed covering it with scale surpluses on capital tribute: twenty-five taels for every thousand, all drawn from meltage surpluses for forwarding—a steep cut from the old corrupt practice. Once the deficit was fully covered, the levy was cut in half. Submission to the Ministry was then halted; the funds were kept in provincial treasuries for famine relief and other measures to benefit the people's livelihood. Since Ming times, Jiangnan's annual land tax, poll tax, grain transport, reed-bank, and miscellaneous levies had been supplemented by so-called miscellaneous assignments—numerous categories folded into land-and-poll tax totals for reporting. When the Complete Book of Levies and Corvée was compiled, only amounts due for submission were entered; the origins of miscellaneous assignments were omitted. Regulations were now fixed to stop over-collection: genuine shortfalls that burdened officials and people were remitted, and counties were forbidden to pad grain collections with fractional remainders.

十二年，大學士訥親等議江蘇錢糧拖欠至二百餘萬，不免吏役侵蝕，酌定自首減免之條。復諭黃廷桂等釐剔江蘇催徵諸弊。各省積欠錢糧，歲終奏報，然必待次歲五月奏銷，方能定完欠實數。諭：「嗣後各省每年完欠錢糧，隨奏銷時覈實具奏，毋庸循歲終奏聞之例。」二十二年，免江南乾隆十年以前積欠漕項銀米地價耗羨。江蘇巡撫陳宏謀奏：「江蘇錢糧積年未能歸款，由於州縣案卷，任書承攜貯私室，以致殘缺無由查考，應嚴飭各州縣將卷宗黏連蓋印，妥存署中。至江省用款繁多，州縣不免借墊，嗣後仍令隨時詳請抵兌。逾四月不詳報，數達五百兩以上者，參處；遲至一年，並府州題參。」均如所議行。

In the twelfth year, Grand Secretary Neqin and others noted that Jiangsu's land-tax arrears exceeded 2,000,000 taels and that clerk-runners' embezzlement could hardly be avoided; they drafted rules for voluntary confession and partial remission. The throne again ordered Huang Tinggui and others to root out abuses in Jiangsu's tax enforcement. Each province reported accumulated land-tax arrears at year's end, but the true totals of payment and shortfall could be fixed only when accounts were submitted the following fifth month. An edict declared: "Henceforth each province's annual figures of payment and arrears shall be verified and reported at account submission, without waiting for the old year-end report." In the twenty-second year, Jiangnan's accumulated arrears in transport silver, grain, land price, and meltage surpluses dating before Qianlong 10 were remitted. Jiangsu Governor Chen Hongmou wrote: "For years Jiangsu's land tax could not be fully reconciled because county records were kept in clerks' private rooms, where pages were lost or destroyed beyond recovery. Every county should be ordered to bind its files, affix official seals, and store them securely in the yamen. Because Jiangsu's expenses were heavy, counties often had to advance funds on credit; they were still required to file detailed requests for reimbursement as the need arose. Failure to report within four months, when the sum exceeded 500 taels, would trigger impeachment; if delay reached a full year, the prefect and departmental officials would also be impeached by memorial. All was implemented as proposed."

三十年，諭：「奏銷冊前列山地田盪版荒新墾，次列三門九則額徵本折地丁起解存留，至為明晰。令嗣後刊刻賦役全書，以奏銷條款為式，止將十年內新坍新墾者添註，其瑣碎不經名目，概刪除之。」戶部議定各省徵收錢糧，及一切奏銷支放等事。凡銀悉以釐為斷，不及釐者，折衷歸減。米糧以勺為斷，奇零在五秒以上者作為一勺，不及五秒者刪除。搭放俸餉制錢以一文為止，而冊內有絲毫忽微虛數，一併刪除。至各州縣衛所應徵銀兩，統令於由總單數下將奇零歸減，其單內前列細數，仍存其舊，期與賦役全書、魚鱗冊數相符。三十三年，諭直省勛田，令民戶首報，一體輸納。

In the thirtieth year an edict noted: "Account registers list mountain land, paddy, flooded fields, wasteland, and newly reclaimed land first, then the three gates and nine categories of quota collection in kind and in silver, land-and-poll tax remittances, and retained sums—a model of clarity. Henceforth, when the Complete Book of Levies and Corvée was printed, it was to follow the account-submission format; only land newly lost or newly reclaimed within ten years was to be added in notes, and petty irregular categories were to be struck out entirely." The Board of Revenue then fixed rules for collecting land tax and grain in every province and for all reporting and disbursement. All silver amounts were rounded to the li; sums below one li were adjusted downward. Grain was rounded to the shao; fractional remainders of five miao or more counted as one shao, and those below five miao were dropped. Copper cash paid out for salaries was rounded to the nearest wen, and the slightest fictitious fractions in the registers were struck out as well. Silver due from every county, guard, and post was to have odd fractions rounded down on the master receipt, while the detailed line items at the head of each receipt were preserved unchanged so they still matched the Complete Book of Levies and Corvée and the fish-scale land register. In the thirty-third year, the throne ordered that in metropolitan provinces, enfeoffment lands must be reported by common households and taxed like any other holding.

三十六年，以比歲蠲免天下錢糧，民力饒裕，令各督撫值輪免之年，將緩帶款項，務催徵完納，毋致次年有新舊同徵之累。四十七年，御史鄭澂請令督撫清查倉庫，如有虧缺，本員治罪償補，督撫從重議處，並加倍分賠。仍令各州縣將倉庫實貯之數，三月彙報，督撫隨時督覈。山東州縣恆多虧挪倉庫之弊，並有本無虧短，於離任時假捏虧數，私立欠約，移交後任，以為肥橐之計者。請飭下各督撫，查有前任虧缺、後任有欠約可憑者，除責成後任彌補外，仍令前任照數追繳入官，以杜短交濫接之弊。帝嘉納之。嘉慶初，復令各督撫於地方官交代，如限內未能交清，應將該員截留，俟款項交清，方准赴任回籍，並禁止私立議單。自是以後，禁網益密矣。御史彭希洛奏各省錢糧多有浮收之弊。諭嗣後各督撫務於開徵前，按時價覈實換銀上庫之數，榜示通衢，納銀折錢，聽民自便。

In the thirty-sixth year, noting that recent nationwide remissions had left the people better able to pay, governors were ordered that in years of rotating tax relief they must still press collection of deferred installments, lest old and new levies pile up the following year. In the forty-seventh year, Censor Zheng Cheng asked that governors inspect granaries and treasuries; where shortfalls were found, the responsible official would be punished and forced to make restitution, while the governor would face aggravated penalties and pay double indemnity. Counties were also required to report actual stored amounts every three months, with governors supervising verification at all times. Shandong counties were especially prone to misappropriating granary and treasury funds. Some outgoing officials with no real shortfall even fabricated deficits, drew up private arrears agreements, and handed them to successors as a way to line their pockets. He asked that governors be instructed: when a predecessor's deficit was backed by a successor's written arrears agreement, the successor must still make good the loss—but the predecessor must also be compelled to repay the full amount to the state, to stop the abuses of short delivery and careless handovers. The Emperor warmly approved the proposal. At the opening of the Jiaqing reign, governors were again ordered that when local officials changed posts, anyone who failed to clear accounts within the deadline would be held until every sum was paid, and only then allowed to assume a new post or go home; private settlement agreements were forbidden. From that point on, fiscal controls grew ever tighter. Censor Peng Xiluo reported that excess collection remained a widespread abuse in provincial land-tax administration. An edict ordered that before each collection season, every governor must verify at current market rates the silver equivalent due to the treasury, post the figures on public thoroughfares, and let taxpayers pay in silver or convert to cash as they chose.

時各省地方官吏，於應徵錢糧，往往挪移新舊，以徵作欠，自三四年以來，積欠至兩千餘萬。有詔將各省歷年積欠，在民在官，一體清查，或留貯，或撥解，違者罪之。戶部奏：「近五年各省耗羨盈餘內借款，請責成督撫查明補歸原款，並將動支耗羨之款酌量刪減，其各項存貯閒款，並詳列以聞。」直隸清查各屬歷年虧短數達巨萬。安徽倉庫虧缺各項銀百八十餘萬。帝諭新虧各員，自本年始，限四年完繳舊虧。未完者，每年酌扣司道府州縣養廉九五成存庫歸款。部奏直隸等十五省，除緩徵帶徵，其未完地丁餘尚有八百七十餘萬，而十二年分又續增未完地丁銀二百九十餘萬。帝以上官於經徵之員，參限將滿，即設法調署，俾接署者另行起限，州縣藉是規避。令嗣後州縣調署，須先查任內果無應徵未完錢糧，咨部覈明，毋得於參限屆滿時，違例調署。給事中趙佩湘奏：「各省虧空，展轉清查，多致縣宕，請嚴行飭禁。」先是直隸因州縣虧欠倉庫，密令大吏清查，分別追賠。其後各省援例，請立局清查，挪新掩舊，弊竇潛滋，甚有借名彌補，暗肆朘削者，故佩湘以為言。帝諭直隸三次清查案內未完各款，分期勒令歸補，逾限不完者，即責成所管上司攤賠，自後永罷清查，有瀆請者罪之。

In those years provincial magistrates routinely shuffled new receipts against old quotas, booking collected taxes as unpaid debt; within three or four years the backlog had swollen to more than twenty million taels. The throne ordered every province to audit years of arrears, whether still owed by taxpayers or sitting in official coffers, and either retain or remit the sums as appropriate; breach of the order would be punished. The Board of Revenue reported that for five years the provinces had been borrowing against meltage surpluses, and asked that each governor-general and governor trace and restore every loan, trim discretionary spending from those funds, and submit a full accounting of idle balances on hand. In Zhili alone, the audit of subordinate districts turned up deficits in the tens of thousands of taels. Anhui's storehouses were short more than 1.8 million taels across several accounts. The Emperor ruled that officials newly found in deficit must, beginning that year, clear their old shortfalls within four years. Those who still owed at year's end would have their integrity stipends docked each year—nine-tenths for circuit and provincial officers, half for prefects and magistrates—and the withheld sums paid into treasury toward the debt. The Board reported that in fifteen provinces, Zhili included, apart from deferred and carried collections, more than 8.7 million taels in land and poll taxes remained outstanding, and the twelfth year's roll alone had added another 2.9 million. The Emperor noted that when a collector's disciplinary deadline was nearly up, superiors would shuffle him to an acting post elsewhere so his replacement could start a new clock—allowing counties to dodge accountability. Henceforth, he ordered, no magistrate might be transferred until the ministry confirmed that no collectible taxes remained due from his term—and no such transfer at deadline's end. Supervising Secretary Zhao Peixiang wrote that repeated deficit audits across the provinces only bred endless delay, and begged a strict ban on the practice. Earlier, after Zhili's magistrates had emptied local treasuries, the court had secretly ordered the provincial leadership to investigate and assign recovery case by case. Other provinces then followed suit, setting up audit offices of their own; new receipts masked old holes, abuses bred in the dark, and some officials padded deficits only to skim the difference—hence Zhao's protest. The Emperor ordered the remaining items from Zhili's three audits repaid on a fixed schedule, with supervising superiors held to shared compensation if deadlines were missed; audits were abolished for good, and repeat petitions would be punished.

十七年，戶部綜計各省積欠錢糧及耗羨雜稅之數，安徽、山東各四百餘萬，江寧、江蘇各二百餘萬，福建、直隸、廣東、浙江、江西、甘肅、河南、陝西、湖南、湖北積欠百餘萬、數十萬、數萬不等。帝以大吏督徵不力，切責之，並令戶部於歲終將各省原欠已完未完各數，詳列以聞。各省逋賦，以江蘇為最多。巡撫硃理奏酌定追補之制，分年補完，杜絕新虧。然屬員掩視拖延如故。直隸自二年至十八年，積欠銀三百四十餘萬，米糧等項十四萬餘石。總督那彥成疏請酌予蠲免，詔嚴行申飭。山東州縣虧欠新舊六百餘萬兩，一縣有虧至六萬餘兩。乃嚴定科條，虧缺萬兩者斬監候，二萬以上者斬決。所虧之數，勒限監追，限內全完貸死，仍永不敘用，逾限不完斬無赦。

In the seventeenth year the Board totaled each province's arrears in grain taxes, meltage, and miscellaneous dues: Anhui and Shandong topped four million each; Jiangning and Jiangsu over two million; Fujian, Zhili, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Gansu, Henan, Shaanxi, Hunan, and Hubei ranged from above a million down to tens or hundreds of thousands. The Emperor sharply rebuked the governors for lax collection, and ordered the Board at year's end to report each province's original arrears and what had or had not been cleared. Of all the provinces, Jiangsu owed the most. Governor Zhu Li proposed a staged recovery plan—year-by-year repayment and a halt to fresh shortfalls. Subordinates still concealed the truth and dragged their feet. From the second to the eighteenth year Zhili's backlog ran to more than 3.4 million taels of silver and over 140,000 shi of grain and other dues. Governor-General Na Yincheng asked for partial remission; the throne answered with a sharp rebuke. Shandong's magistrates together owed more than six million taels in old and new deficits; one county alone was short more than sixty thousand. The code was tightened: a shortfall of ten thousand taels brought decapitation after imprisonment; twenty thousand or more, immediate execution. Deficits were to be recovered under supervised deadlines: full payment within the term spared the convict's life but barred him from office forever; miss the deadline and there would be no reprieve.

御史葉中萬請清釐籓庫借款，胡承珙請整頓直隸虧空諸弊。時各省籓庫，因州縣有急需，往往濫行借款，日久未歸，展轉挪抵，弊混叢生。而攤捐津貼，名目日增，州縣派累繁多，辦事竭蹶，虧欠正項勢所必然，雖嚴刑峻法不能禁也。當乾隆之季，天下承平，庶務充阜，部庫帑項，積至七千餘萬。嘉慶中，川楚用兵，黃河泛濫，大役頻興，費用不貲，而逋賦日增月積，倉庫所儲，亦漸耗矣。

Censor Ye Zhongwan asked that provincial treasury loans be sorted out; Hu Chenggong petitioned to clean up Zhili's deficit abuses. Provincial treasuries, pressed by local emergencies, lent freely; loans lingered unpaid, were rolled and offset in circles, and the tangle of abuses grew. Meanwhile apportioned surcharges and allowances multiplied by the day; magistrates were crushed under the load, regular revenues went unfunded as a matter of course, and even the harshest law could not stop it. By the close of Qianlong the empire had long been at peace, every branch of government prospered, and the central treasury held more than seventy million taels. Under Jiaqing came war in Sichuan and Hubei, Yellow River floods, and one great project after another at ruinous cost; arrears mounted month by month, and the storehouses slowly emptied.

道光二年，御史羅宸條陳直省解徵錢糧，請仿鹽引茶引法，防官吏侵蝕。帝以紛擾，不許。革州縣糧總、庫總，從御史余文銓請也。乾隆初，州縣徵收錢糧，尚少浮收之弊。其後諸弊叢生，初猶不過就斛面浮收，未幾，遂有折扣之法，每石折耗數升，漸增至五折六折，餘米竟收至二斗五升，小民病之。廷議八折徵收，以為限制浮收之計。大學士湯金釗疏駁之。御史王家相亦言「八折之議，行之常、鎮、江、淮、揚、徐等府，或可嘗試，蘇、松糧重之地，窒礙孔多」。議遂寢。時東南財賦之區，半遭蹂躪。未被兵州縣，又苦貪吏浮收勒折，民怨沸騰，聚眾戕官之事屢起。州縣率以抗糧為詞，藉掩其浮勒之咎。江蘇蘇、松等屬，每遇蠲緩，書吏等輒向業戶索錢，名曰賣荒。納錢者，雖豐收仍得緩徵；不納者，縱荒歉不獲查辦。詔並禁之。湖北漕務積弊已久，巡撫胡林翼疏請折漕革除規費，民間減錢百四十餘萬千文，國帑增銀四十餘萬兩，節省提存銀三十餘萬兩。詔褒美之。

In Daoguang 2, Censor Luo Chen proposed that provincial tax remittances follow the salt- and tea-ticket system to block official embezzlement. The Emperor judged the scheme too disruptive and refused it. At Censor Yu Wenquan's urging, the county grain and treasury chief clerkships were abolished. Early in Qianlong, magistrates still collected taxes with comparatively little overcharge. Abuses soon multiplied: first a little extra taken at the measuring trough, then discount rules— a few sheng shaved from each shi, rising to fifty or sixty percent off, until collectors took two and a half dou where one shi was due—and the common people bore the pain. Court debated fixing collection at eighty percent of quota as a cap on overcharge. Grand Secretary Tang Jinzhai memorialized against the plan. Censor Wang Jiaxiang added that eighty-percent collection might be tried in Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Jianghuai, Yangzhou, Xuzhou, and the like, but in grain-heavy Suzhou and Songjiang the obstacles would be many. The proposal died in committee. By then the southeast—the empire's treasury—lay half in ruins. Even counties untouched by war groaned under greedy magistrates who overcharged and forced discounts; wrath boiled over, and mobs killed officials again and again. Magistrates routinely blamed "grain resistance" to hide their own extortion. In Suzhou, Songjiang, and their districts, whenever relief or deferral was granted, clerks would shake down landowners for cash—a trade called "selling famine." Pay, and even in a bumper year you could defer collection; refuse, and even in famine you would get no relief at all. An edict banned the practice outright. Hubei's grain transport had festered for years; Governor Hu Linyi petitioned to commute tribute and abolish customary fees—saving the people more than 1.4 million strings of cash, adding over 400,000 taels to the treasury, and reserving another 300,000. The throne commended him in an edict.

軍興以後，四川等省，辦理借徵，以充兵餉。裕瑞奏請勸諭紳民，按糧津貼，罷借徵。英桂奏：「交納錢糧半銀半錢之制，而官取民仍以銀，每錢二千作銀一兩，耗銀無出。請於應入撥之地丁，准搭官票，不入撥之耗羨，仍徵實銀。」部臣以辦法兩歧，請依原章，正雜錢糧，一體搭交官票。然地方官吏仍收實銀，而以賤值之票交納籓庫，帝令嚴禁。

After the armies marched, Sichuan and other provinces levied taxes in advance to feed the troops. Yu Rui asked that gentry and commoners be urged to pay grain surcharges in lieu of advance levies, and that advance collection be ended. Ying Gui reported that though taxes were due half in silver and half in cash, officials still reckoned in silver alone, treating two thousand cash as one tael—with no allowance anywhere for meltage loss. For land and poll taxes subject to transfer, allow payment in official notes mixed with silver; for meltage not subject to transfer, still demand hard silver." The Board, finding the two schemes incompatible, asked that regular and miscellaneous dues alike be paid in combined official notes, as the original rule provided. Local officials still took silver from taxpayers while passing cheap notes to the provincial treasury; the Emperor ordered the practice stopped.

同治元年，清查直省錢糧。二年，兩江總督曾國籓、江蘇巡撫李鴻章疏言：「蘇、松、太浮賦，上溯之，則比元多三倍，比宋多七倍；旁證之，則比毗連之常州多三倍，比同省之鎮江等府多四五倍，比他省多一二十倍不等。其弊由於沿襲前代官田租額，而賦額遂不平也。國初以來，承平日久，海內殷富，為曠古所罕有，故乾隆中年以後，辦全漕者數十年，無他，民富故也。至道光癸未大水，元氣頓耗，然猶勉強枝梧者十年。逮癸巳大水而後，無歲不荒，無縣不緩，以國家蠲減曠典，遂為年例。部臣職在守法，自宜堅持不減之名，疆臣職在安民，不得不為暗減之術。始行之者，前督臣陶澍、前撫臣林則徐也。又官墊民欠一款，不過移雜墊正，移緩墊急，移新墊舊，移銀墊米，以官中之錢完官中之糧，將來或豁免，或攤賠，同歸無着。故歷年糧冊，必除去墊欠虛數，方得徵收實數。蘇屬全漕百六十萬，厥後遂積漸減損。道光辛卯以後十年，連除官墊民欠，得正額之七八；辛丑以後十年，除墊欠，得正額之五六；咸豐辛亥十年，除墊欠，僅得正額之四成而已。自粵逆竄陷蘇、常，焚燒殺掠，慘不可言。臣親歷新復州縣，市鎮丘墟，人煙寥落。已復如此，未復可知。而欲責以數倍他處之重賦，向來暴徵之吏，亦無骨可敲、無髓可吸矣。細核歷年糧數，咸豐十年中，百萬以上者僅一年，八十萬以上者六年，皆以官墊民欠十餘萬在其中，是最多之年，民完實數不過九十萬也。成案如是，民力如是。惟籥請准減蘇、松、太三屬糧額，以咸豐中較多之七年為準，折衷定數，總期與舊額本經之常、鎮二屬通融覈計，著為定額。即以此後開徵之年為始，永遠遵行，不準再有墊完民欠名目。嗣後非水旱亦不準捏災，俾去無益之空籍，求有着之實徵。至蘇、松漕糧核減後，必以革除大小戶名為清釐浮收之原，以裁減陋規為禁止浮收之委。」制可。先是太常卿潘祖廕、御史丁壽昌交章言減賦事，皆下部議。覆奏准蘇、松減三之一，常、鎮減十之一。大抵蘇、松、太一畝之稅，最重者幾至二斗，輕者猶及一斗。列朝屢議覈減，率為部議所格。雍正間，從怡親王請，免蘇、松兩府額徵銀。乾隆間，又減江蘇省浮糧，皆減銀而不及米。至是詔下，百姓莫不稱慶。

In Tongzhi 1 the provinces undertook a general audit of grain taxes. In the second year, Governor-General Zeng Guofan and Jiangsu Governor Li Hongzhang wrote: "Suzhou, Songjiang, and Taicang are grossly over-assessed—trace the quotas back and they exceed Yuan rates threefold and Song rates sevenfold; compare them sideways and they are triple Changzhou next door, four or five times Zhenjiang and other Jiangsu prefectures, and ten to twenty times provinces elsewhere. The root of the evil is carrying forward old official-field rents, so the burden falls unevenly. Since the founding, long peace had made the realm richer than any age on record; from mid-Qianlong on full tribute was collected for decades for no reason but the people's wealth. The guìwèi flood of Daoguang drained the land's strength at a stroke, yet for ten years the system still barely held. After the guǐsì flood came year after year of dearth and county after county of deferral, until the throne's generous remissions became routine. Board officers are bound to uphold the law and keep the name of the quota intact; frontier governors must keep the people quiet and so resort to quiet cuts. Former Governor-General Tao Shu and former Governor Lin Zexu were the first to do so. The category called 'official advance for private arrears' only shuffled miscellaneous dues to cover regular ones, slow items to cover urgent ones, new debts to cover old, silver to cover grain—official cash finishing official grain on the books, later remitted or spread among officials, all ending nowhere. Yearly grain ledgers therefore had to strip out padded arrears before the true collection could be seen. Suzhou's full tribute quota stood at 1.6 million shi; thereafter it shrank year by year. In the ten years after Daoguang xīnmǎo, once official advances for private arrears were removed, only seven or eight tenths of the regular quota was actually collected; in the ten years after xīnchǒu, five or six tenths; in Xianfeng's xīnhai decade, only four tenths. Since the Cantonese rebels took Suzhou and Changzhou, burning, killing, and looting beyond words. I have walked the newly recovered districts myself—market towns are ash, and smoke from hearth-fires is scarce. Where recovery has begun it is so; where it has not, one need not ask. Yet we would still demand several times the burden borne elsewhere—the magistrates who once squeezed the people have no bone left to break and no marrow left to drain. Go through the yearly totals: in ten Xianfeng years only one year topped a million shi, six topped eight hundred thousand—and each of those figures hid more than a hundred thousand in official advances for private arrears; even in the best year the people actually paid no more than nine hundred thousand. The records say so; the people's strength says so. We ask only that Suzhou, Songjiang, and Taicang grain quotas be cut, taking the seven heavier Xianfeng years as the benchmark, balancing the figure against the old quotas of Changzhou and Zhenjiang, and fixing the result as the permanent levy. From the year collection resumes, let the new quota stand forever, and forbid any further category of official advance for private arrears. Hereafter, except in flood or drought, no fabricated disaster deferrals—strip the useless paper from the rolls and collect what is truly owed. Once Suzhou and Songjiang tribute is cut, abolishing the large- and small-household categories must be the root of ending overcharge, and cutting corrupt customary fees the surest way to enforce the ban." The throne approved." Earlier, Vice Minister of Rites Pan Zuyin and Censor Ding Shouchang had each petitioned for tax cuts; both petitions went to the Board for deliberation. The Board's reply approved cutting Suzhou and Songjiang by one-third and Changzhou and Zhenjiang by one-tenth. Broadly speaking, per-mu dues in Suzhou, Songjiang, and Taicang ran as high as nearly two dou and as "low" as one. Reign after reign had debated verified cuts, and reign after reign the Board had blocked them. Under Yongzheng, at Prince Yi's request, quota silver collection in Suzhou and Songjiang was remitted. Under Qianlong Jiangsu's excess grain assessments were cut again—but only in silver, never in grain. When the edict came down, the people rejoiced.

三年，從閩浙總督左宗棠請，諭紹興屬八縣六場，正雜錢糧，統照銀數徵解，革除一切攤捐及陋規，計減浮收錢二十二萬有奇，米三百六十餘石。寧波屬一廳五縣六場，減浮收錢十萬四千有奇，米八百餘石。四年，浙江巡撫馬新貽請豁減金華浮收錢十五萬餘串，米五百餘石，衢州錢十萬餘串，米六十餘石，嚴州錢六萬餘串，米六千餘石，洋銀八十餘元，米百餘石，從之。是年宗棠克湖州，疏言南漕浮收過多，請痛加裁汰。事下部議。覆奏杭、嘉、湖漕糧，請仿江蘇例，減原額三十分之八，並確查賦則，按輕重量為覈減，所有浮收陋規，悉予裁汰。其南匠米石，無庸議減。計三府原額漕白、行月等米百萬餘石，按三十分之八，共減米二十六萬六千餘石。國籓請將蘇、松等屬地丁漕項一體酌減，不許。

In the third year, at Governor-General Zuo Zongtang's request, Shaoxing's eight counties and six salt fields were ordered to collect and remit all regular and miscellaneous dues by silver reckoning, abolishing every apportioned levy and corrupt fee—cutting overcharge by more than 220,000 strings of cash and 360 shi of grain. In Ningbo's one department, five counties, and six salt fields, overcharge was cut by more than 104,000 strings of cash and over 800 shi of grain. In the fourth year, Zhejiang Governor Ma Xinyi asked that excessive collection be remitted in Jinhua—more than 150,000 strings of cash and 500 shi of grain; in Quzhou more than 100,000 strings and 60 shi; in Yanzhou more than 60,000 strings, 6,000 shi of grain, 80 foreign silver dollars, and 100 shi of grain—and the request was granted. That year, after Zongtang took Huzhou, he reported that southern tribute was grossly over-collected and begged deep cuts. The matter went to the Board. The Board's reply on Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou tribute proposed following Jiangsu's example—cutting the original quota by eight thirtieths, auditing tax schedules by light and heavy categories, and abolishing every overcharge and corrupt fee. Southern craftsman grain quotas were not to be reduced. The three prefectures' original quotas for tribute, white rice, monthly allowances, and other grain totaled more than a million shi; at eight thirtieths, the cut came to more than 266,000 shi. Guo Fan asked that land tax, poll tax, and tribute in Suzhou, Songjiang, and their districts be reduced together; the request was denied.

自乾、嘉以來，州縣徵收錢糧，多私行折價，一石有折錢至二十千者。咸豐中，胡林翼始定核收漕糧，每石不得過六千錢。其後山東亦定每石收錢六千。江蘇定每石年內完者收四千五百，年外收五千。江西收錢三千四百。河南每石折銀三兩。安徽二兩二錢。漕糧浮收，其來已久。河運、海運，皆有津貼。嘉興一郡，徵漕一石，有津貼至七錢以上者。又徵收漕糧，例有漕餘，其數多寡不一，大抵視缺分肥瘠為準。歷來本折並收，而折色浮收，較本色更重。自正額減折價定，遂漸少浮收之弊。

Since Qianlong and Jiaqing, magistrates had often commuted grain dues to cash on their own terms—one shi sometimes priced at twenty thousand cash. Under Xianfeng, Hu Linyi first capped verified tribute collection at six thousand cash per shi. Shandong later fixed the same six thousand. Jiangsu set four thousand five hundred cash per shi if paid within the year, five thousand if after. Jiangxi collected three thousand four hundred. In Henan each shi was commuted at three taels of silver. Anhui fixed the rate at two taels two mace. Overcharging on tribute grain was an old story. Both river and sea transport carried their own surcharges. In Jiaxing alone, surcharges on a single shi of tribute could run above seven mace. Tribute collection also carried a customary surplus levy, varying with whether a district's quota was padded thin or fat. Collectors had long taken grain and commuted silver together, yet overcharge in commuted form weighed heavier than in kind. Once official quotas were cut and commutation prices fixed, the worst overcharge abuses began to ease.

直隸、奉天多無糧之地，名曰黑地，或旗產日久迷失，或山隅海涘新墾之田。咸豐季年，寶鋆等查出昌平黑地四百四十餘頃，試辦升科。詔直隸總督、盛京將軍、順天、奉天各府尹一體辦理。同治初，令黑地業戶各赴所管官署呈報升科，許永遠為業。御史陳俊奏：「直隸、奉天除昌平外，呈報升科者寥寥，蓋由地方官吏徵收入己，延不具報，甚有將報地人抑勒刑逼諸弊。」帝遣大臣分查。大學士倭仁疏陳黑地升科，州縣畏難苟安，請申明賞罰。尋定州縣查出隱地逾二十頃優敘，升科地多者獎之；有徇隱匿墾、吏胥詐賕，以溺職論；其無賴假稱委員，恐哧得贓，照例嚴懲。

Zhili and Fengtian held much untaxed land called "black land"—banner estates lost to the records over the years, or freshly opened fields at mountain's edge and along the coast. In Xianfeng's last years Bao Jun and others found more than four hundred forty qing of black land in Changping and began trial assessment for taxation. The throne ordered the Governor-General of Zhili, the General of Mukden, and the Shuntian and Fengtian commissioners to proceed in the same manner. Early in Tongzhi, black-land holders were told to register at their local office for taxation and promised secure title if they did. Censor Chen Jun wrote that outside Changping scarcely anyone in Zhili and Fengtian had come forward—local officials pocketed the revenue, stalled the reports, and in the worst cases extorted and tortured those who tried to register. The Emperor sent senior ministers to investigate by region. Grand Secretary Woren reported that magistrates dragged their feet on black-land assessment out of fear and complacency, and asked that rewards and punishments be made explicit. Rewards followed: magistrates who uncovered more than twenty qing of hidden land earned preferential mention, and those who brought large areas onto the rolls were commended; connivance at hidden reclamation or clerkly bribery would be treated as dereliction of duty; and ruffians posing as commissioners to shake down landowners would be punished to the full letter of the law.

德宗即位之初，復新疆，籌海防，國用日增。戶部條陳整頓錢糧之策，略云：「溯自發逆之平，垂二十年，正雜錢糧，期可漸復原額。乃考覈正雜賦稅額徵總數，歲計三千四百餘萬兩，實徵僅百四十五萬兩，賦稅虧額如此。財既不在國，又不在民，大率為貪官墨吏所侵蝕。約而言之，其弊有五：一曰報荒不實，二曰報災不確，三曰捏作完欠，四曰徵存不解，五曰交代宕延。覈計近年賦稅短徵，以安徽及江蘇之江寧為最，蘇州、江西次之，河南又次之。多者所收不及五分，少者亦虧一二分不等。請飭各督撫籓司認真釐剔，以裕度支。」詔從其請。然終清之世，諸弊卒未能盡革也。

In the early years of Guangxu's reign, recovering Xinjiang and building coastal defenses sent state expenses ever upward. The Board of Revenue proposed a plan to overhaul tax collection, noting that nearly twenty years after the rebellion's pacification, regular and miscellaneous revenues ought by now to be nearing their old quotas. Yet on audit the scheduled regular and miscellaneous taxes exceeded thirty-four million taels a year while actual collection came to a mere 1.45 million—such was the deficit. The money sat neither in the treasury nor with the taxpayers—for the most part greedy officials and ink-stained clerks had eaten it. In brief, five abuses prevailed: bogus famine claims, unreliable disaster reports, cooked books of paid and unpaid taxes, collections never remitted, and endless delays at handover. Recent audits found the worst shortfalls in Anhui and Jiangning in Jiangsu, followed by Suzhou and Jiangxi, then Henan. Some provinces collected less than half; even the best fell short by ten or twenty percent. The Board asked every governor and provincial treasurer to audit and purge the rolls, so that revenue might again meet the budget. The throne assented. Yet to the dynasty's end those abuses were never fully uprooted.

二十年，中、日之戰，賠兵費二萬萬。二十六年，拳匪肇禍，復賠各國兵費四萬五千萬。其後練新軍，興教育，創巡警，需款尤多，大都就地自籌。四川因解賠款，而按糧津貼捐輸之外，又有賠款新捐。兩江、閩、浙、湖北、河南、陝西、新疆於丁漕例徵外，曰賠款捐，曰規復錢價，曰規復差徭，曰加收耗羨，名稱雖殊，實與加賦無大異也。

In the twentieth year of Guangxu, the Sino-Japanese War brought a two-hundred-million-tael indemnity. In the twenty-sixth year the Boxer disaster brought another four hundred fifty million in indemnities to the powers. New armies, new schools, and new police forces followed, demanding ever more money—mostly raised locally. Sichuan, paying its share of indemnities, added new indemnity levies on top of grain surcharges. Liangjiang, Min-Zhe, Hubei, Henan, Shaanxi, and Xinjiang piled indemnity levies, "cash restoration," corvée restoration, and extra meltage fees on top of poll tax and tribute—different names, but little different from a general tax hike.

總計全國賦額，其可稽者：順治季年，歲徵銀二千一百五十餘萬兩，糧六百四十餘萬石；康熙中，歲徵銀二千四百四十餘萬兩，糧四百三十餘萬石；雍正初，歲徵銀二千六百三十餘萬兩，糧四百七十餘萬石；高宗末年，歲徵銀二千九百九十餘萬兩，糧八百三十餘萬石，為極盛雲。

Where records allow a tally of national tax quotas: at Shunzhi's close the annual levy ran to more than 21.5 million taels of silver and 6.4 million shi of grain; mid-Kangxi, more than 24.4 million taels and 4.3 million shi; early Yongzheng, more than 26.3 million taels and 4.7 million shi; at the close of Qianlong's reign, more than 29.9 million taels and 8.3 million shi—the empire's fiscal high water mark.

一曰役法。初沿明舊制，計丁授役，三年一編審，嗣改為五年。凡里百有十戶，推丁多者十人為長，餘百戶為十甲，甲十人。歲除里長一，管攝一里事。城中曰坊，近城曰廂，鄉里曰里。里長十人，輪流應徵，催辦錢糧，句攝公事，十年一周，以丁數多寡為次，令催納各戶錢糧，不以差徭累之。編審之法，核實天下丁口，具載版籍。年六十以上開除，十六以上添註，丁增而賦隨之。有市民、鄉民、富民、佃民、客民之分。民丁外復有軍、匠、灶、屯、站、土丁名。

I. Corvée law. At first the dynasty kept the Ming practice of assigning corvée by male head, reviewing registers every three years, later every five. Every li held one hundred ten households: the ten men with the largest quota of adult males became li heads, and the remaining hundred households were grouped into ten tithings of ten men apiece. Each year one of the ten li heads took turn managing the li. Urban districts were fang, suburban wards xiang, and villages li. The ten li heads took yearly turns collecting taxes and coordinating local business in a ten-year cycle ranked by quota of males, charged to press payment without loading corvée on top. Registration review verified the empire's male population and entered every name in the household registers. Men over sixty dropped off the rolls, those over sixteen were added, and the poll tax rose and fell with the count. Registers distinguished townsfolk, villagers, landowners, tenants, and sojourners. Beyond civilian males the rolls listed military, artisan, salt, garrison-colony, courier-station, and native categories.

直省丁徭，有分三等九則者，有一條鞭徵者，有丁隨地派者，有丁隨丁派者。其後改隨地派，十居其七。都直省徭里銀三百餘萬兩，間徵米豆。其科則最輕者每丁科一分五釐，重至一兩有餘。山西有至四兩餘，鞏昌有至八九兩者。因地制宜，不必盡同也。三等九則之法，沿自前明，一條鞭亦同。其法將均徭均費等銀，不分銀力二差，俱以一條鞭從事。凡十甲丁糧，總於一里，各里丁糧，總於一州縣，而府，而布政司。通計一省丁糧，均派一省徭役，里甲與兩稅為一。凡一州縣丁銀悉輸於官，官為僉募，以充一歲之役，民不擾而事易集。定內外各衙署額設吏役，以良民充之。吏典由各處僉撥，後改為考取，或由召募投充。役以五年為滿，不退者斥革。其府州縣額設祗候、禁子、弓兵，免雜派差役。又有快手、皁隸、門卒、庫子諸役，皆按額召募。額外濫充者謂之白役，白役有禁。然州縣事劇役繁，必藉其力，不能盡革也。又定州縣鋪司及弓兵之制，禁止私役。禁人民私充牙行、埠頭。

Provinces assessed corvée by three grades and nine schedules, by the single-whip method, by land, or by head—each province its own rule. Later seven tenths of provinces shifted to land-based apportionment. Provincial corvée dues in silver ran to more than three million taels nationwide, with grain and beans levied here and there. Rates ran from as little as one fen five li per head to more than a tael. Shanxi levied over four taels in places; Gongchang eight or nine. Each place set rates to local conditions—not every province matched. Three grades and nine schedules came down from the Ming, as did the single-whip method. It rolled equalized corvée and fee silver into one levy, erasing the old split between cash and labor obligations—the "single whip." Tithing quotas rolled up to the li, li quotas to the county, county to prefecture, prefecture to the provincial treasurer. A province's male tax quota became the basis for apportioning its corvée—the lijia system and the land tax merged into one. Counties remitted corvée silver to the magistrate, who hired labor for the year's projects—less disturbance for the people, faster completion for the state. Every office, capital and province alike, kept a fixed staff of clerks and runners drawn from lawful commoners. Clerks were first assigned by local levy, later by examination or open recruitment. Terms ran five years; those who stayed on were expelled. Prefectures and counties kept salaried attendants, jailers, and constables exempt from extra corvée. Runners, lictors, gatekeepers, and warehouse clerks were likewise recruited to fixed quotas. Unlicensed extras were called "white service" and forbidden. Yet busy counties still leaned on extra hands and never quite stamped the practice out. Regulations also fixed courier stations and constabulary, banning private impressment. Commoners were forbidden to serve privately as brokers or wharf agents.

瀕河之地，例有夫役守護。順治四年，以御史佟鳳彩言，設直隸沿河堤夫。九年，河決封丘，起大名、東昌、兗州及河南丁夫數萬塞之。十二年，增給河夫工食。河工用民之例有二：曰僉派，曰召募。僉派皆按田起夫，召募則量給雇值。其後額設之夫，悉給工食，由僉派而召募，役民給值，較古制為善矣。十七年，禁州縣私派里甲之弊。

Riverfront districts owed corvée labor for embankment work by custom. In Shunzhi 4, at Censor Tong Fengcai's urging, Zhili established riverside dike crews. In the ninth year the river burst at Fengqiu; tens of thousands of laborers from Daming, Dongchang, Yanzhou, and Henan were mobilized to plug the breach. In the twelfth year river workers' rations were raised. River work drew on the people in two ways: forced levy and paid recruitment. Levies were raised per mu of land; recruits were paid market wages. Quota crews were eventually all rationed; the shift from impressment to hire paid the people for their labor—a clear improvement on older practice. In the seventeenth year private lijia levies by magistrates were banned.

康熙元年，令江南蘇、松兩府行均田均役法。戶科給事中柯聳言：「任土作賦，因田起差，此古今不易常法。但人戶消長不同，田畝盈縮亦異，所以定十年編審之法，役隨田轉，冊因時更，富者無兔脫之弊，貧者無虻負之累。臣每見官役之侵漁，差徭之繁重，其源皆由於僉點不公，積弊未剔。查一縣田額若干，應審里長若干，每里十甲，每甲田若干，田多者獨充一名，田少者串充一名，其最零星者附於甲尾，名曰花戶，此定例也。各項差役，俱由里長挨甲充當，故力不勞而事易集。獨蘇、松兩府，名為僉報殷實，竟不稽查田畝，有田已賣盡而報里役者，有田連阡陌全不應差者。年年小審，挪移脫換，叢弊多端。田歸不役之家，役累無田之戶，以致貧民竭骨難支，逃徙隔屬。今當大造之年，請飭撫臣通行兩府，按田起役，毋得憑空僉報，以滋賣富差貧之弊。其他花分子戶、詭寄優免、隔屬立戶、買充冊書諸弊，宜嚴加禁革。」下部議行。六年，嚴禁江西提甲累民。提甲之說，在明曰提編，現年追比已完，復提次甲，責成備辦。廣信諸府，有連提數甲者，實與加派無二。以御史戈英言，罷之。

In Kangxi 1, Suzhou and Songjiang were ordered to adopt equalized land-and-corvée assessment. Supervising Secretary Ke Song of the Household wrote: "Tax follows the land and corvée follows the fields—that law has never changed. But households rose and fell and holdings shifted—which is why registers were reviewed every ten years so corvée tracked the land. The rich could not slip free; the poor were not crushed under another's load. I see runner extortion and crushing corvée at root in unfair levy rolls and unreformed abuse. A county's land quota determined its li heads: ten tithings per li, holdings tallied per tithing. Large holders served alone, small ones shared a slot, and the scattered minnows at the tithing's tail were called "flower households"—standard procedure. Li heads rotated duties tithing by tithing, so no one bore the full weight and business got done. Suzhou and Songjiang alone nominally tapped "substantial households" without checking acreage—men who had sold every field still drew duty, while holders of vast estates drew none. Yearly mini-audits bred endless shuffling and a tangle of abuses. Land ended up with families exempt from duty while the landless bore the load—until the poor were gutted and fled across county lines. At this major register revision, order both prefectures to levy corvée by land, not hollow nomination—and stop the trade of selling duty to the rich and dumping it on the poor. Scattered sub-holdings, fraudulent exemptions, cross-county registration, purchased clerkships—all these should be banned outright." The memorial went to the Board, which approved it. In the sixth year Jiangxi's practice of forwarding tithing quotas was strictly banned. "Forward tithing"—in Ming times "forward registration"—meant that once the current year's quota was met, the next tithing was pulled forward and forced to prepare ahead. In Guangxin and elsewhere several tithings could be pulled forward at once—no different from a straight surcharge. At Censor Ge Ying's petition, the practice was abolished.

七年，定驛遞給夫例。凡有驛處，設夫役以供奔走，其額視路之沖僻為衡，日給工食，皆入正賦編徵。此項人夫，大率募民充之，差役稍繁，莫不臨時添雇。水驛亦然。十二年，停河南僉派河夫，按畝徵銀，以抵雇值。十六年，河道總督靳輔上言：「河工興舉，向俱勒州縣派雇里民，用一費十。今兩河並舉，日需夫十餘萬，乃改僉派為雇募，多方鼓舞，數月而工成。」大工用雇募自輔始。是年禁有司派罰百姓修築城垛。二十九年，以山東巡撫佛倫言，令直省紳衿田地與人民一律差徭。

In the seventh year regulations fixed courier relay labor. Every post station kept runners scaled to the route's traffic, paid daily rations from the regular tax rolls. Stations mostly hired commoners; when workloads spiked they added temporary hands. River posts followed the same rule. In the twelfth year Henan ended impressment of river labor, levying silver per mu in lieu of wages. In the sixteenth year River Superintendent Jin Fu wrote: "River works used to force counties to impress li commoners—one part's work at ten parts' cost. With both rivers under repair and more than a hundred thousand men needed daily, he shifted from impressment to paid hire—and finished in months." Large-scale hired river labor began with Jin Fu. That same year magistrates were forbidden to use penal labor on city walls. In year twenty-nine, at the urging of Shandong Governor Foloron, the throne ordered that gentry and commoners' land alike throughout the provinces bear corvée on the same terms.

五十一年，諭曰：「海宇承平日久，戶口日增，地未加廣，應以現在丁冊定為常額，自後所生人丁，不徵收錢糧，編審時，止將實數查明造報。」廷議：「五十年以後，謂之盛世滋生人丁，永不加賦。仍五歲一編審。」戶部議：「缺額人丁，以本戶新添者抵補；不足，以親戚丁多者補之；又不足，以同甲糧多之丁補之。」

In year fifty-one, an edict declared: "The empire has known peace so long that population rises daily while land does not grow. The present household rolls should be fixed as the permanent quota; newly born persons after that shall pay no grain or silver tax. At each five-year review, officials need only verify and report actual numbers." The court resolved: "Persons born after the fiftieth year—the so-called prosperous-era new births—shall never be taxed again. Household review would still be held every five years." The Ministry of Revenue added: "Shortfalls in registered persons should be covered by new members of the same household; if that was not enough, from relatives with surplus registered members; and if still insufficient, from households in the same lijia unit with the heaviest tax assessments."

雍正初，令各省將丁口之賦，攤入地畝輸納徵解，統謂之「地丁」。先是康熙季年，四川、廣東諸省已有行之者。至是準直隸巡撫李維鈞請，將丁銀隨地起徵，每地賦一兩，攤入丁銀二錢二釐，嗣後直省一體仿行。於是地賦一兩，福建攤丁銀五分二釐七毫至三錢一分二釐不等；山東攤一錢一分五釐；河南攤一分一釐七毫至二錢七釐不等；甘肅，河東攤一錢五分九釐三毫，河西攤一分六毫；江西攤一錢五釐六毫；廣西攤一錢三分六釐；湖北攤一錢二分九釐六毫；江蘇、安徽畝攤一釐一毫至二分二釐九毫不等；湖南地糧一石，徵一毫至八錢六分一釐不等。自後丁徭與地賦合而為一，民納地丁之外，別無徭役矣。惟奉天、貴州以戶籍未定，仍丁地分徵。又山西陽曲等四十二州縣，亦另編丁銀。

Early in the Yongzheng reign, every province was ordered to fold poll tax into land tax for collection and remittance under the single name "land-poll." Sichuan, Guangdong, and other provinces had already done so in Kangxi's last years. Now, accepting Zhili Governor Li Weijun's proposal, poll silver was collected with land tax at 2 mace 2 candareens per tael of land tax; afterward every province adopted the same practice. Henceforth, per tael of land tax, Fujian added poll silver from 5 candareens 2.7 hao to 3 mace 1 candareen 2 hao; Shandong added 1 mace 1 candareen 5 hao; Henan added from 1 candareen 1 hao 7 fen to 2 mace 7 candareens; in Gansu, 1 mace 5 candareens 9 hao 3 fen east of the river and 1 candareen 6 hao west of it; Jiangxi added 1 mace 5 candareens 6 hao; Guangxi added 1 mace 3 candareens 6 hao; Hubei added 1 mace 2 candareens 9 hao 6 fen; Jiangsu and Anhui added per mu from 1 candareen 1 hao to 2 candareens 2 hao 9 fen; and Hunan, on each shi of land grain, levied from 1 hao to 8 mace 6 candareens 1 hao. After that, corvée and land tax became one levy: once the people paid land-poll, they owed no further corvée. Only Fengtian and Guizhou, where household registration was still unsettled, kept poll and land taxes separate. Shanxi's Yangqu and forty-one other prefectures and counties also kept poll silver on separate rolls.

二年，江西巡撫裴度奏裁里長。時廷臣有言大小衙署，遇有公事需用物件，恣行科派，總甲串通姦胥，從中漁利；凡工作匠役，皆設立總甲，派定當官，以次輪轉；又設貼差名目，不原赴官者，勒令出銀，大為民害。詔並禁止。然日久玩生，滋擾益甚。乾隆元年，復有詔申禁。又諭各處歲修工程，如直隸、山東運河，江南海塘，四川堤堰，河南沁河、孟縣小金堤等工，向皆於民田按畝派捐，經管里甲，不無苛索，嗣後永行停止。凡有工作，悉動用帑金。十年，川陝總督慶復奏興修各屬城垣，請令州縣捐廉，共襄其事。帝曰：「各官養廉，未必有餘，名為幫修，實派之百姓，其弊更大。」不許。乃定各省城工千兩以下者，分年修補，土方小工，酌用民力，餘於公項下支修。二十二年，更定江西修堤力役之法。凡修築土堤，闔邑共攤，夫從糧徵，聽官按堤攤分，募夫修築。從巡撫胡寶瑔請也。二十五年，御史丁田樹言：「自丁糧歸於地畝，凡有差徭及軍需，必按程給價，無所謂力役之徵。近者州縣於上官迎送，同僚往來，輒封拏車船，奸役藉票勒派，所發官價，不及時價之半，而守候回空，概置不問，以致商旅裹足，物價騰踴。嗣後非承辨大差，及委運官物，毋得減發官價，出票封拏，違者從重參處。」得旨允行。三十二年，以用兵緬甸，經過各地，夫馬運送，頗資民力，特頒帑銀，每省十萬，分給人民。

In year two, Jiangxi Governor Pei Du asked to abolish the office of village head. Some officials then reported that in offices large and small, whenever routine business required supplies, unauthorized levies were imposed at will, with headmen colluding with corrupt clerks to skim the proceeds; artisan labor was assigned through headmen who fixed turns for official service; and there was the "substitute service" fee, by which those who would not report for duty were forced to pay silver—a grave burden on the people. An edict banned all of it. But over time neglect bred abuse, and the harassment only worsened. In Qianlong 1, another edict restated the ban. The throne also ordered an end to the old practice of funding annual repairs—the Zhili and Shandong canals, Jiangnan sea walls, Sichuan dikes, the Henan Qin River works, the Meng County Small Gold Dike, and the like—by per-mu levies on farmland, which managing headmen had often extorted. All future labor would be paid entirely from the treasury. In year ten, Sichuan-Shaanxi Governor-General Qing Fu proposed rebuilding city walls across his jurisdictions and asked prefectures and counties to donate from their integrity stipends. The Emperor replied: "Officials' integrity stipends rarely leave a surplus; what is called 'joint repair' is in truth levied on the people, and the abuse is worse still." The request was denied. Regulations were then set: provincial city repairs under one thousand taels would be spread over several years; minor earthworks might use local labor where appropriate, and the rest would come from public funds. In year twenty-two, Jiangxi's corvée rules for dike repair were revised. For earthen dikes, the whole county shared the cost; labor fees were collected with grain tax, and officials apportioned them by dike section and hired workers. This followed Governor Hu Bao'en's proposal. In year twenty-five, Censor Ding Tianshu wrote: "Since poll tax was folded into land assessment, corvée and military requisitions were supposed to be paid at fixed rates, with no more labor levies. Lately, when prefectures and counties received superiors or exchanged visits with colleagues, they sealed and seized carts and boats; corrupt runners used tickets to extort levies, official prices paid less than half the market rate, and waiting and empty return trips went uncompensated, so travelers stayed away and prices soared. Henceforth, except for major official assignments and transport of government goods, officials must not cut official prices or issue tickets to seize carts and boats; violators would be severely punished." The throne approved. In year thirty-two, the Burma campaign drew heavily on local labor for transport; the court issued one hundred thousand taels per province from the treasury to compensate the people.

田賦職役，本有經制，大率東南諸省，賦重而役輕，西北賦輕而役重。直隸力役之徵，有按牛驢派者，有按村莊派者，有按牌甲戶口科者，間亦有按地畝者。然富者地多可以隱匿，貧者分釐必科，雜亂無章，偏枯不公。其尤甚者，莫如紳民兩歧。有紳辦三而民辦七者，有紳不辦而民獨辦者，小民困苦流離，無可告訴。時有議仿攤丁於地之例，減差均徭，每畝一分，無論紳民，按地均攤。直隸總督顏檢力言其不可，並謂：「如議者所言，每地一畝，攤徵差銀一分，其意在藉賦以收減差之實效，不知適藉差而添加賦之虛名，累官病民，弊仍不免。」疏入，議遂寢。

Land tax and corvée had fixed systems: broadly, the southeast paid heavy taxes and light corvée, the northwest the reverse. In Zhili, corvée was levied by oxen and donkeys in some places, by village in others, by pai-jia household rolls in others, and sometimes by land area. Yet the wealthy could hide land while the poor were taxed to the last fraction; the rules were chaotic and the burden unjust. Worst of all was the split between gentry and commoners. Sometimes gentry bore three parts and commoners seven; sometimes gentry bore none while commoners bore all; small farmers were driven to hardship and flight with no recourse. Some then proposed following the poll-to-land precedent: reduce corvée and equalize service at one fen per mu, assessing gentry and commoners alike by land. Zhili Governor-General Yan Jian strongly opposed this, writing: "As proponents say, one fen of corvée silver per mu aims to use taxation to reduce corvée in fact; in truth it would only add a nominal tax through corvée, burdening officials and harming the people while the abuse remained." Once the memorial was in, the proposal was dropped.

咸豐時，粵西役起，徵調不時，不得不藉民力。糧銀一兩，派差銀數倍不等。事定，差徭繁重如故，且錢糧或有蠲緩，差銀則歉歲仍徵。

During Xianfeng, rebellion broke out in western Guangdong; requisitions came without warning and local labor could not be avoided. For each tael of grain tax, corvée silver several times that amount was levied. After the crisis, heavy corvée continued; grain taxes might be remitted or deferred in bad years, but corvée silver was still collected.

光緒四年，山西巡撫曾國荃疏陳晉省瘡痍難復，請均減差徭以舒民困，其略曰：「晉省右輔畿疆，西通秦、蜀，軍差、餉差、藏差，絡繹於道，州縣供億之煩，幾於日不暇給。車馬既資之民間，役夫亦責之里甲。而各屬辦理不同。有闔邑里甲通年攤認者，資眾力以應役，法尚公允。有分里分甲限年輪認者，初年攤之一甲一里，次年攤之二甲二里，各年差徭多寡不等，即里甲認派苦樂不均。豪猾者恃有甲倒累甲、戶倒累戶之弊，將其地重價出售，而以空言自認其糧。三五年後，乘間潛逃，於是本甲既代賠無主之糧，又代認無主之差，貽害無窮。計惟減差均徭，尚堪略為補救。除大差持傳單勘合，循例支應，其他概不得藉端苛派。如有擅索車馬者，治以應得之罪。」從之。五年，閻敬銘復條陳八事：一，裁減例差借差；二，由臬司發給車馬印票；三，喇嘛來往，須有定班；四，奉使辦事大臣，宜禁濫索；五，嚴除衙蠹地痞；六，令民間折交流差錢，由衙門自辦；七，嚴查驛馬足額備用；八，本省征防各兵，給予長車，由營自辦。下所司議行。八年，張之洞任山西巡撫，復言：「晉省虐民之政，不在賦斂而在差徭。向例每縣所派差錢，大縣制錢五六萬緡，小縣亦萬緡不等，按糧攤派，官吏朋分，沖途州縣，設立車櫃，追集四鄉牲畜，拘留過客車馬，或長年抽收，或臨時勒價，居者行者均受其患。現擬籌款生息，官設差局，嚴定應差章程，禁止差員濫支。」車櫃陋習遂革。

In Guangxu 4, Shanxi Governor Zeng Guoquan wrote that the province's wounds were slow to heal and asked to reduce and equalize corvée to ease the people's distress. He summarized: "Shanxi borders the capital and opens west to Qin and Shu; military requisitions, pay requisitions, and Tibetan missions pass continuously, and prefectures and counties are so burdened with supply they can scarcely keep up. Horses and carts came from the people, and laborers were charged to lijia headmen. Yet each jurisdiction handled matters differently. Some had the whole county's lijia share the year's burden collectively—a method still relatively fair. Some divided by li and jia in rotating years: one jia and one li the first year, two the next, with corvée varying yearly so even within lijia the burden fell unevenly. Crafty and powerful men, exploiting the abuses by which one jia was charged for another and one household for another, sold their land at high prices while verbally claiming the tax burden themselves. Three to five years later they would slip away; then the original jia would both make up ownerless grain tax and accept ownerless corvée—a harm without end. Only by reducing corvée and equalizing service could some remedy be found. Except for major requisitions with official summons and verification documents, supplied as usual, all other pretexts for harsh levies were forbidden. Anyone who seized horses or carts without authority would be punished accordingly." The request was approved. In year five, Yan Jingming submitted eight proposals: first, cut routine and temporary requisitions; second, have the provincial judicial commissioner issue stamped tickets for horses and carts; third, Lama travel must follow fixed schedules; fourth, imperial envoys on business should be barred from excessive demands; fifth, strictly remove yamen parasites and local bullies; sixth, let the people pay transport fees in cash while yamens handle arrangements themselves; seventh, strictly verify that relay horses were kept at full quota; eighth, give long carts to provincial garrison troops and let the camps handle them themselves. The matter was referred to the relevant offices for deliberation and implementation. In year eight, Shanxi Governor Zhang Zhidong wrote again: "Shanxi's policies that torment the people lie not in taxation but in corvée. By former practice each county's corvée silver ran from fifty or sixty thousand strings in large counties to ten thousand or more in small ones, apportioned by grain tax while officials divided the proceeds. On major routes counties set up cart depots, rounding up livestock from the countryside and detaining travelers' carts and horses, collecting fees year after year or extorting prices on the spot—residents and travelers alike suffered. He proposed raising funds for interest-bearing investment, establishing official corvée bureaus, fixing corvée regulations, and forbidding corvée agents from unauthorized disbursements." The abusive cart-depot custom was then abolished.

先是先代陵墓，皆設陵戶司巡查洒掃，例免差徭。又各先賢祠宇，凡有祭田，皆免其丁糧。軍民年七十以上者，許一子侍養，免其雜泛差役。

Earlier, tomb households had been assigned to imperial tombs of former dynasties for patrol and sweeping, and by precedent they were exempt from corvée. At shrines to former sages, wherever there were sacrificial fields, poll and grain taxes were exempted. Soldiers and commoners aged seventy or above were allowed one son to remain for support and were exempt from miscellaneous corvée.

順治二年，免直省京班匠價，併除其匠籍。定紳衿優免例，內官一品免糧三十石、丁三十，二品免糧二十四石、丁二十四，其下以次遞減；外任官減其半。十四年，部議優免丁徭，本身為止。雍正四年，四川巡撫羅殷泰言，川省各屬，以糧載丁，請將紳衿貢監優免之例禁革。部議駁之。復下九卿議，定紳衿止免本身；其子孫族戶冒濫，及私立儒戶官戶者，罪之。乾隆元年，申舉貢生監免派雜差之令。三十七年，停編審造冊。時丁銀既攤入地糧，而續生人丁又不加賦，五年編審，不過沿襲虛文，無裨實政，至是因李瀚言，遂罷之。翌年，陳輝祖請將民屯新墾丁銀隨年攤徵。帝以所奏與小民較及錙銖，非惠下恤民之道，諭嗣後各省辦理丁糧，悉仍舊制，毋得輕議更張。

In Shunzhi 2, the capital artisan levy in all provinces was remitted and artisan registration was abolished. Preferential exemption rules for gentry were fixed: capital officials of rank one were exempt from thirty shi of grain and thirty poll-tax persons, rank two from twenty-four shi and twenty-four persons, and so on downward; officials serving in the provinces received half those amounts. In year fourteen, the ministry ruled that preferential corvée exemption applied only to the person himself. In Yongzheng 4, Sichuan Governor Luo Yintai wrote that in Sichuan poll tax followed grain burden and asked that preferential exemptions for gentry, tribute students, and licentiates be abolished. The ministry rejected this. The matter went again to the Nine Ministers, who ruled that gentry were exempt only for themselves; descendants, clansmen, or households who claimed exemptions improperly, and those who privately established scholar or official households, would be punished. In Qianlong 1, the order exempting licentiates, tribute students, and students from miscellaneous corvée was reiterated. In year thirty-seven, household compilation, review, and register-making were stopped. By then poll silver had been merged into land grain tax and new births were no longer taxed; the five-year review had become empty form with no benefit to governance, and on Li Han's recommendation it was abolished. The next year, Chen Huizu asked that poll silver from newly reclaimed civilian and military colonies be apportioned yearly. The Emperor held that the proposal haggled with common people over fractions of cash and was not true care for the people; he ordered that hereafter all provinces handling poll and grain tax follow the old system and not lightly propose changes.

一曰蠲免賦稅。蠲免之制有二：曰恩蠲，曰災蠲。恩蠲者，遇國家慶典，或巡幸，或用兵，輒蠲其田賦。

The first section is entitled "Remission of Taxes." Remission took two forms: grace remission and disaster remission. Grace remission came when the state marked a celebration, an imperial tour, or war, and then remitted land taxes.

世祖入關，首免都城居民被兵者賦役三年。順治二年，以山西初復，免本年田租之半。三年，收江南，免漕糧三之一。八年，世祖親政，給還九省加派額外錢糧，免山西荒地額糧一萬五千頃，及直隸、山東、河南、陝西荒殘額賦。恩蠲災蠲之詔，歲數四下。康熙十年東巡，免蹕路所經今年租。十三年，蠲免各省八九兩年本折錢糧積欠在民者。時海內大定，詔用兵以來積欠錢糧悉免之。二十七年南巡，免江南積欠地丁錢糧，及屯糧蘆課米麥豆雜稅。三十三年，蠲免廣西、四川、貴州、雲南四省應徵地丁銀米。四十五年，免直隸、山東本年積欠錢糧，其山西、陝西、甘肅、江蘇、浙江、安徽、江西、湖北、湖南、福建、廣東、廣西各省，自康熙四十三年以前，未完地丁銀二百十二萬有奇，糧十萬五千石有奇，悉行蠲免。

When the Founding Emperor entered the pass, he first remitted three years of taxes and corvée for capital residents harmed by war. In Shunzhi 2, with Shanxi newly recovered, half that year's land rent was remitted. In year three, once Jiangnan was subdued, one-third of the tribute grain levy was remitted. In year eight, once the Shunzhi Emperor assumed direct rule, the throne returned extra levies imposed on nine provinces, remitted quota grain on fifteen thousand qing of wasteland in Shanxi, and waived quota taxes for devastated districts of Zhili, Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi. Edicts of grace remission and disaster remission went out four times a year. On his eastern tour in Kangxi 10, the emperor remitted that year's land tax along the imperial procession route. In year thirteen, tax arrears from years eight and nine—principal levies and converted payments still owed by taxpayers in every province—were remitted. By then the realm was fully pacified; an edict remitted every tax arrear accumulated since the wars had begun. On his southern tour in year twenty-seven, he remitted Jiangnan's accumulated land-and-poll taxes, garrison grain levies, reed duties, and miscellaneous taxes on rice, wheat, beans, and other grains. In year thirty-three, land-and-poll taxes in silver and grain due from Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan were remitted. In year forty-five, accumulated taxes for the current year in Zhili and Shandong were remitted; for Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi, all outstanding land-and-poll silver before Kangxi 43—more than 2.12 million taels—and more than 105,000 shi of grain were remitted in full.

承平日久，戶口漸繁，地不加增，民生有不給之虞，詔直省自五十年始，分三年輪免錢糧一周。三年中計免天下地丁糧賦三千八百餘萬。五十六年，免直隸、安徽、江蘇、浙江、江西、湖廣、西安、甘肅帶徵地丁屯衛銀二百三十九萬餘兩，其安徽、江蘇所屬帶徵漕項銀四十九萬餘兩，米麥豆十四萬餘石，免徵各半。五十七年，以征策妄阿拉布坦，免陝、甘明年地丁百八十餘萬。聖祖嘗讀漢文帝蠲民田租詔，嘆曰：「蠲租乃古今第一仁政，窮谷荒陬，皆沾實惠。然非宮廷力崇節儉，不能行此。」故在位六十年中，屢頒恩詔，有一年蠲及數省者，一省連蠲數年者，前後蠲除之數，殆逾萬萬。

After decades of peace the population swelled while arable land did not, and livelihoods seemed at risk; from Kangxi 50 the throne ordered each province to remit taxes in rotation over three years until every quota had been waived once. Over those three years, land-and-poll grain taxes remitted nationwide totaled more than thirty-eight million. In year fifty-six, more than 2.39 million taels in carried-over land-and-poll and garrison taxes for Zhili, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Xi'an, and Gansu were remitted; for Anhui and Jiangsu, carried-over tribute payments—more than 490,000 taels of silver and more than 140,000 shi of rice, wheat, and beans—were remitted by half. In year fifty-seven, to support the campaign against Galdan, more than 1.8 million in next year's land-and-poll taxes for Shaanxi and Gansu were remitted. The Kangxi Emperor once read Emperor Wen of Han's edict remitting the people's field rent and sighed: "Remitting rent is the greatest benevolent policy in all history; even the remotest valley and the most desolate corner receives real benefit. Yet unless the court itself rigorously practices frugality, such a policy cannot be carried out. Accordingly, over sixty years on the throne he issued grace edicts again and again—sometimes remitting several provinces in a single year, sometimes the same province for years in a row—and the total remitted likely exceeded one hundred million.

世宗即位，蠲免江蘇各屬歷年未完民屯地丁蘆課等銀千二百十餘萬。西藏、苗疆平，免甘肅、四川、廣西、雲、貴五省田租。又諭國家經費已敷，宜散富於民，乃次第免直省額賦各四十萬。乾隆元年，詔免天下田租，先後免雍正十三年以前各省逋賦、及江南錢糧之官侵吏蝕者。四年，免直隸本年錢糧九十萬，江蘇百萬，安徽六十萬，正耗一體蠲除。十年，普免天下錢糧二千八百二十四萬有奇，援康熙五十一年之例，將各省分為三年，以次豁免。三十一年，詔次第蠲各省漕米，五年而遍，其例徵折色者亦免之。三十五年，值帝六旬，明歲又際太后八旬，照十年之例，按各省額賦，分三年輪免一周。

When the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, more than 12.1 million taels in accumulated civilian and garrison land-and-poll taxes and reed duties still unpaid across Jiangsu were remitted. After Tibet and the Miao frontier were pacified, field rents in Gansu, Sichuan, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou were remitted. He also declared that state revenue was already ample and wealth ought to be spread among the people; then, province by province, four hundred thousand taels of quota taxes were remitted. In Qianlong 1, an edict remitted field rents nationwide, successively wiping out overdue taxes in every province before Yongzheng 13 and Jiangnan taxes lost to official embezzlement and clerk skimming. In year four, nine hundred thousand taels in Zhili, one million in Jiangsu, and six hundred thousand in Anhui were remitted for the current year; principal levies and surcharges were remitted together. In year ten, more than 28.24 million taels in taxes nationwide were universally remitted; following the Kangxi 51 precedent, the provinces were divided into three groups and remitted in rotation over three years. In year thirty-one, an edict ordered each province's tribute grain remitted in succession over five years until all had been covered; cases normally collected as converted silver were remitted as well. In year thirty-five, with the emperor's sixtieth birthday at hand and the empress dowager's eightieth the next year, the throne followed the year-ten precedent and remitted each province's quota taxes in rotation over three years until every quota had been waived once.

四十二年，普免天下錢糧，自明年始，分三年輪免，計二千七百五十九萬有奇。各省漕糧，自四十五年普免一次。四十九年，豁免甘肅壓欠起運糧銀百六十餘萬，其存留項下民欠銀糧，起運項下民欠草束，悉免之。五十五年，高宗八旬，詔按各省額徵銀數，將所屬各府州縣次第搭配三次，按年輪免，三年而竣，一省之中，仍先侭上年災緩之區，首先蠲免。五十九年，普免各省應徵漕糧。六十年，普免各省積欠，及因災緩帶銀千五百五十餘萬兩、糧三百八十餘萬石，其奉天、山西、四川、湖南、廣西、貴州六省向無積欠，免下年正賦十之二。又以明年將歸政，免嘉慶元年各省應徵地丁錢糧，其省方時巡蹕路所經，輒減額賦十之三。

In year forty-two, taxes nationwide were universally remitted; beginning the next year, remission would proceed in rotation over three years, totaling more than 27.59 million taels. Each province's tribute grain received one universal remission beginning in year forty-five. In year forty-nine, more than 1.6 million taels in Gansu's backlog of forwarded grain-silver was remitted; taxpayer arrears in silver and grain under the retained share and in fodder bundles under the forwarded share were all remitted. In year fifty-five, for the Qianlong Emperor's eightieth birthday, an edict ordered each province's quota silver allocated among its prefectures, departments, and counties in three successive rounds, remitted year by year over three years until complete; within each province, districts deferred the previous year because of disaster were remitted first. In year fifty-nine, tribute grain due from every province was universally remitted. In year sixty, accumulated arrears nationwide and disaster-deferred payments—more than 15.5 million taels of silver and more than 3.8 million shi of grain—were universally remitted; Fengtian, Shanxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi, and Guizhou, which had no accumulated arrears, had next year's principal tax reduced by two-tenths. Also, because he would abdicate the next year, land-and-poll taxes due from every province in Jiaqing 1 were remitted; in provinces where the imperial procession would pass, quota taxes were reduced by three-tenths.

仁宗即位，以湖北、湖南教匪苗民蠢動，免次年兩省錢糧，並及川、陝被兵之區。四年，以郊祀升配禮成，普免各省積欠緩徵地丁耗羨，及民欠籽種口糧漕糧銀，並積欠緩徵民借米穀草束。十年，謁祖陵，免蹕路所經州縣錢糧之半。二十四年，以六旬萬壽，免天下正耗民欠，及緩帶銀穀，計銀二千一百二十九萬兩有奇、米穀四百餘萬石。四川、貴州兩省無民欠，免明年正賦十之二。

When the Jiaqing Emperor ascended the throne, because White Lotus rebels and Miao unrest were spreading in Hubei and Hunan, next year's taxes in both provinces were remitted, along with war-afflicted areas of Sichuan and Shaanxi. In year four, after the suburban sacrifice elevation ceremony was completed, accumulated deferred land-and-poll surcharges nationwide were universally remitted, along with seed grain, rations, tribute grain silver, and accumulated deferred grain, rice, and fodder bundles borrowed by the people. In year ten, on a visit to the imperial ancestral tombs, half the taxes in prefectures and counties along the imperial procession route were remitted. In year twenty-four, on his sixtieth birthday, principal-and-surcharge arrears owed by taxpayers nationwide and deferred silver and grain were remitted, totaling more than 21.29 million taels of silver and more than four million shi of grain and rice. Sichuan and Guizhou had no taxpayer arrears; next year's principal tax was reduced by two-tenths.

災蠲有免賦，有緩徵，有賑，有貸，有免一切逋欠。清初定制，凡遇災蠲，起運存留均減。存留不足，即減起運。順治初，定被災八分至十分，免十之三；五分至七分，免二；四分免一。康熙十七年，改為六分免十之一，七分以上免二，九分以上免三。雍正六年，又改十分者免其七，九分免六，八分免四，七分免二，六分免一。然災情重者，率全行蠲免。凡報災，夏災以六月，秋災以七月。既報，督撫親蒞災所，率屬發倉先賑，然後聞。康熙三年，戶部奏遇災之地，先將額賦停徵十之三，以待題免。四年，御史郝維訥請凡災地田賦免若干，丁亦如之。其後丁隨地起，凡有災荒，皆丁地並蠲。旨下之日，州縣不即出示，或蠲不及數、納不留抵者，科以侵欺之罪。乾隆元年，安徽布政使晏斯盛請「嗣後各省水旱應免錢糧之數，於具題請賑日始，限兩月造報，並請將丁銀統入地糧銀內覈算蠲免」。從之。聖祖、高宗兩朝，疊次普免天下錢糧，其因偏災而頒蠲免之詔，不能悉舉。仁宗之世，無普免而多災蠲，有一災而免數省者，有一災而免數年者。文宗以後，國用浩繁，度支不給，然遇疆臣奏報災荒，莫不立予蠲免。若災出非常，或連年飢饉，輒蠲賑兼施雲。

Disaster remission took several forms: exemption, deferred collection, relief distribution, loans, and remission of all overdue payments. Under early Qing regulations, whenever disaster remission applied, both forwarded and retained portions were reduced. If the retained portion was insufficient, the forwarded portion was reduced instead. In early Shunzhi, it was fixed that where disaster reached eight to ten tenths of a district, three-tenths of the tax were remitted; where it reached five to seven tenths, two-tenths were remitted; where it reached four tenths, one-tenth was remitted. In Kangxi 17 this was changed: at six tenths one-tenth was remitted; at seven tenths or more, two-tenths; at nine tenths or more, three-tenths. In Yongzheng 6 it was changed again: at ten tenths, seven-tenths were remitted; at nine tenths, six-tenths; at eight tenths, four-tenths; at seven tenths, two-tenths; at six tenths, one-tenth. Yet where disaster was severe, remission was usually complete. Whenever disaster was reported, summer disasters were reported by the sixth month and autumn disasters by the seventh. Once disaster was reported, the governor-general personally went to the affected area, led his subordinates to open granaries and distribute relief first, and only then reported upward. In Kangxi 3 the Ministry of Revenue memorialized that in disaster areas, quota taxes should first be suspended by three-tenths pending formal remission approval. In year four, Censor Hao Weina requested that wherever field tax in disaster areas was remitted by a given amount, poll tax should be remitted likewise. Thereafter poll tax was assessed with land; whenever disaster or famine occurred, land and poll were remitted together. From the day the edict was issued, if prefectures and counties did not promptly post public notices, remitted less than ordered, or failed to allow credit offsets on payment, they were charged with embezzlement and fraud. In Qianlong 1, Anhui Fiscal Commissioner Yan Sisheng requested: "Hereafter, in every province the amount of taxes to be remitted because of flood or drought should be reported within two months from the day the relief memorial is submitted, and poll silver should be calculated together with land grain silver for remission." The request was approved. Under the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors, universal remissions of taxes nationwide were repeated many times; edicts remitting taxes because of partial disasters are too numerous to list in full. In the Jiaqing era there were no universal remissions but many disaster remissions; sometimes one disaster led to remission in several provinces, sometimes one disaster led to remission over several years. After the Xianfeng Emperor, state expenses grew vast and the treasury could not meet them; yet whenever frontier officials memorialized reporting disaster or famine, remission was always granted at once. If disaster was extraordinary, or famine continued year after year, remission and relief were applied together.

倉庫京師及各直省皆有倉庫。倉，京師十有五。在戶部及內務府者，曰內倉，曰恩豐；此外曰祿米，曰南新，曰舊太，曰富新，曰興平，曰海運，曰北新，曰太平，曰本裕，曰萬安，曰儲積，曰裕豐，曰豐益。在通州者，曰西倉，曰中倉。各省漕運，分貯於此。直省則有水次倉七：曰德州，曰臨清，曰淮安，曰徐州，曰江寧，各一；惟鳳陽設二。為給發運軍月糧並駐防過往官兵糧餉之需。其由省會至府、州、縣，俱建常平倉，或兼設裕備倉。鄉村設社倉，市鎮設義倉，東三省設旗倉，近邊設營倉，瀕海設鹽義倉，或以便民，或以給軍。大抵京、通兩倉所放米，曰官俸，曰官糧，亦名甲米，二者去全漕十之六。其一，養工匠，名匠米。其一，定鼎時，宗臣封親王者六，封郡王者二，世宗之弟封親王者一，此九王子孫，自適裔外，並有封爵，以世降而隨之，統名恩米，二者去京倉百之一。是以雍正以前，太倉之粟常有餘。

Granaries existed in the capital and in every province. In the capital there were fifteen granaries. Those under the Board of Revenue and the Imperial Household Department were called the Inner Granary and Enfeng; besides these there were Lumi, Nanxin, Jiutai, Fuxin, Xingping, Haiyun, Beixin, Taiping, Benyu, Wan'an, Chuji, Yufeng, and Fengyi. At Tongzhou there were the West Granary and the Central Granary. Tribute grain from the provinces was stored here in distribution. In the provinces there were seven riverside granaries: Dezhou, Linqing, Huai'an, Xuzhou, and Jiangning, one each; only Fengyang had two. These supplied monthly grain for transport troops and provisions for garrison troops and officials and soldiers passing through. From provincial capitals down to prefectures, departments, and counties, ever-normal granaries were built everywhere, and some also had reserve granaries. Villages had community granaries, market towns had charity granaries, the Northeast had banner granaries, frontier areas had garrison granaries, and coastal areas had salt charity granaries—some for the people's convenience, some to supply the army. Generally, rice issued from the Beijing and Tongzhou granaries included official salaries and official grain, also called jia rice; together these took six-tenths of the full tribute transport. One portion fed artisans and was called artisan rice. One portion went to the nine princes: at the founding six imperial clansmen were enfeoffed as princes of the first rank, two as princes of the second rank, and one younger brother of the Yongzheng Emperor was enfeoffed as a prince of the first rank; descendants of these nine princes, apart from the direct heirs, all held titles of nobility that descended with each generation; collectively this was called grace rice; together these two categories took one-hundredth of the capital granaries. Hence before Yongzheng, grain in the Great Storehouse often ran to surplus.

乾隆二十八年，戶部侍郎英廉疏言：「邇年因賑恤屢截留漕運，間遇京師糧貴，復發內倉米石平糶，儲積漸減。請於湖廣、江西、江南、浙江產米之區，開捐貢監，均收本色，收足別貯。遇截漕之年，即於次年照數補運京倉。」下九卿議准，旋復停止。及嘉慶中，川楚盜起，水旱間作，工匠既倍於昔，而九王之後亦愈衍愈眾。咸豐後，復有粵寇之亂，運道不通，倉儲益匱，亂平稍復舊例。

In Qianlong 28, Vice Minister of Revenue Ying Lian memorialized: "In recent years, because relief has repeatedly diverted tribute transport, and whenever grain grew dear in the capital the Inner Granary was opened for fair-price sale, stores have gradually diminished. Please open purchase-of-office contributions for jian and jian supervision degrees in grain-producing regions of Huguang, Jiangxi, Jiangnan, and Zhejiang, collecting grain in kind uniformly and storing it separately once the quota is met. In years when tribute transport is diverted, the amount should be made up and transported to the capital granaries the next year." The memorial was sent to the Nine Ministers for deliberation and approved, but was soon stopped again. By the Jiaqing era, bandits had risen in Sichuan and Huguang and flood and drought occurred intermittently; artisans had doubled in number compared with earlier times, and the descendants of the nine princes had also grown ever more numerous. After Xianfeng, the Taiping rebellion broke out again, transport routes were cut, granary stores grew ever more depleted, and after order was restored the old arrangements were only partly restored.

向京師平糶，有五城米局，八旗米局。五城米局始於康熙。雍正四年，於內城添廠，並添五城、通州廠各一。乾隆二年，增五城為十廠，尋又添設八廠於四鄉。九年，於四路同知設四廠。八旗米局凡二十四，又通州左右翼兩局，皆設於雍正六年。乾隆元年，並為八局，旋仍舊。十五年，命二十四局分左右翼辦理，不拘旗分。十七年，以米價未平，且有勒買之弊，諭並通州兩局停止。

Fair-price sale in the capital was handled by the Five Cities grain bureaus and the Eight Banners grain bureaus. The Five Cities grain bureaus began in the Kangxi reign. In Yongzheng 4, depots were added in the inner city, and one depot each was added for the Five Cities and Tongzhou. In Qianlong 2, the Five Cities depots were increased to ten, and eight more depots were soon added in the four suburban districts. In year nine, four depots were established under the four-route sub-prefects. There were twenty-four Eight Banners grain bureaus, and two bureaus for the left and right wings at Tongzhou; all were established in Yongzheng 6. In Qianlong 1 they were merged into eight bureaus, but were soon restored to the old arrangement. In year fifteen, the twenty-four bureaus were ordered managed by left and right wings without regard to banner affiliation. In year seventeen, because grain prices had not stabilized and there was the abuse of forced purchase, an edict ordered the two Tongzhou bureaus stopped as well.

其直省常平、裕備等倉，順治十一年，命各道員專管，每年造冊報部。十七年，戶部議定常平倉穀，春夏出糶，秋冬糴還，平價生息，凶歲則按數給散貧戶。康熙六年，甘肅巡撫劉斗疏言：「積米年久恐浥爛，請變價糴新穀。」從之。七年，陝西巡撫賈漢復請將積穀變價生息。帝諭出陳入新，原以為民，若將利息報部，反為民累，著停止生息。十九年，諭常平倉留本州縣備賑，義倉、社倉留本村鎮備賑。三十年，戶部議令直隸所捐米石，大縣存五千石，中縣四千，小縣三千；嗣又令再加貯一倍。三十一年，議定州縣積穀，照正項錢糧交代，短少以虧空論。三十四年，議定江南積穀，每年以七分存倉，三分發糶，並著為通例。四十三年，議定州縣倉穀霉爛者，革職留任，限一年賠完復職；逾年不完，解任；三年外不完，定罪，著落家產追賠。

For ever-normal, reserve, and other granaries in the provinces, in Shunzhi 11 circuit intendants were ordered to manage them exclusively and submit annual registers to the ministry. In Shunzhi 17 the Ministry of Revenue fixed that ever-normal granary grain should be sold in spring and summer and repurchased in autumn and winter at fair prices to earn interest; in famine years it should be distributed to poor households according to quota. In Kangxi 6, Gansu Governor Liu Dou memorialized: "Grain stored for many years may grow damp and spoil; please sell it at market price and buy new grain." The request was approved. In year seven, Shaanxi Governor Jia Hanfu requested that accumulated grain be sold at market price to earn interest. The emperor instructed that selling old grain and buying new was originally for the people's benefit; if interest were reported to the ministry, it would instead burden the people, and earning interest was ordered stopped. In year nineteen, an edict ordered ever-normal granaries kept in the prefecture, department, or county for relief, and charity and community granaries kept in the village or market town for relief. In year thirty, the Ministry of Revenue ordered that donated grain in Zhili be stored at five thousand shi in large counties, four thousand in medium counties, and three thousand in small counties; later it was also ordered that storage be doubled. In year thirty-one, it was fixed that accumulated grain in prefectures and counties should be handed over like regular tax silver and grain; shortages would be treated as deficit and embezzlement. In year thirty-four, it was fixed that in Jiangnan accumulated grain each year seven-tenths would remain in store and three-tenths would be sold, and this was established as a general rule. In year forty-three, it was fixed that where granary grain in prefectures and counties grew moldy and spoiled, the official would be dismissed from office but retained in post, with one year to make full restitution before restoration; if restitution was not complete after one year, he would be removed from office; Failure to make good the deficit after three years brought criminal penalties and recovery from the official's family estate.

時各省州縣貯穀之數，山東、山西大州縣二萬石，中州縣萬六千石，小州縣萬二千石；江西大州縣一萬二千石；江蘇、四川率不過五六千石；而福建現在捐穀二十七萬石，常平又存五十六萬石；台灣捐穀及常平為最多，共八十餘萬石。令酌留三年兵需，餘變價充餉。四十七年，議定州縣官於額貯外加買貯倉，准其議敘，若捐穀以少報多，或將現貯米捏作捐輸，後遇事發，除本管知府分賠外，原報督撫一併議處。至官將倉穀私借於民，計贓以監守自盜論，穀石照數追賠。五十四年，議定紳民捐穀，按數之多寡，由督撫道府州縣分別給扁，永免差役。

At that time, provincial grain-storage quotas were set by district size: in Shandong and Shanxi, large districts held twenty thousand shi, medium districts sixteen thousand, and small districts twelve thousand; in Jiangxi, large districts twelve thousand shi; Jiangsu and Sichuan generally held no more than five or six thousand shi; Fujian, by contrast, had two hundred seventy thousand shi in donated grain and another five hundred sixty thousand shi in Ever-Normal reserves; Taiwan held the largest combined reserves of donated grain and Ever-Normal grain—more than eight hundred thousand shi in all. An order went out to retain enough grain for three years of military needs and sell the surplus for rations. In the forty-seventh year, magistrates who bought grain beyond quota and stored it properly were to receive favorable mention in their evaluations. If a donor reported less grain than claimed, or if rice already in store was falsely recorded as a fresh donation and the fraud came to light in a crisis, the prefect shared liability—and the governor-general or governor who had approved the original report faced discipline as well. Officials who lent granary grain privately to commoners were charged with custodial self-theft according to the embezzled amount, and made to repay every shi. In the fifty-fourth year, grain donors among gentry and commoners were to receive commemorative plaques scaled to the size of their gifts—from the governor-general down through the district magistrate—and were permanently exempt from corvée duties.

雍正三年，以南方潮濕，令改貯一米易二穀。四年，浙閩總督高其倬疏言：「閩省平糴有二大病：一，交盤之弊不清，各官授受，皆有價無穀，而價又不敷買補；一，平糶之價太賤，每石減價至一兩，且有不及一兩者，各屬雖欲買補，緣價短束手，而奸民乘此謀利，往往借價貴，煽惑窮民，竟欲平糶之期，一歲早於一歲，平糶之價，一年賤於一年。請嗣後視米之程高下，每石以一兩二錢或一兩三錢，穀則定以六錢五分或六錢，總以秋成後既平之價為準。」帝韙其言。尋定州縣倉廠敖不修，致米穀霉爛者，照侵蝕科斷，並將虧空各州縣解任。其穀令自行催還，限以一年，逾限者治罪。五年，定各省常平倉，每年底令本府州盤查。如春借逾十月不完，或捏造，俱行參處，照數追賠。又因福建常平倉各屬有銀穀兩空者，有無穀而僅存價者，查實，將虧空之州縣官更換。古十三年，內閣學士方苞上平糶倉穀三事：「一，倉穀每年存七糶三，設遇價昂，必待申詳定價，窮民一時不得邀惠。請令各州縣酌定官價，一面開糶，一面詳報。一，江淮以南地氣卑濕，若通行存七糶三，恐積至數年，必有數百萬霉爛之穀，有司懼罪，往往以既壞之穀抑派鄉戶。請飭南省各督撫，驗察存倉各穀色，因地分年，酌定存糶分數；河北五省倘遇歲歉，亦不拘三七之例。一，穀之存倉有鼠耗，盤糧有折減，移動有腳價，糶糴守局有人工食用，春糶之價即稍有贏餘，亦僅足充諸費。請飭監司郡守歲終稽查，但數不虧，不得借端要挾，倘逢秋糴價賤，除諸費外，果有贏餘，詳明上司別貯，以備歉歲之用。」下部議行。

In Yongzheng 3, the damp southern climate prompted a shift in storage practice: one shi of rice on the books was replaced with two shi of unhusked grain. In the fourth year, Gao Qipei, Grand Coordinator of Zhejiang and Fujian, wrote: "Fujian's Ever-Normal system suffers from two grave disorders. First, handover audits never clear up the books: when offices changed hands, cash balances remained on paper but grain did not, and the funds were too little to buy replacements; second, Ever-Normal sale prices are set far too low—sometimes as little as one tael per shi, sometimes less. Subordinate districts want to restock but cannot afford to; meanwhile profiteers cite high market prices, stir up the poor, and push the sale season earlier every year while driving official prices lower year after year. I ask that rice hereafter be priced by grade at one tael two qian or one tael three qian per shi, and grain fixed at six qian five fen or six qian, using post-harvest stabilized prices as the benchmark. The Emperor endorsed his proposal. Regulations soon followed: magistrates whose granaries fell into disrepair and whose grain molded or rotted were prosecuted under the embezzlement code and removed from office. They were given one year to recover the grain themselves; beyond that deadline, punishment applied. In the fifth year, each province's Ever-Normal granaries were ordered audited at year's end by the prefecture and department concerned. Spring loans unpaid by the tenth month, or falsified on the books, brought impeachment and full restitution. In Fujian, audits also found subordinate offices with neither silver nor grain on hand, or cash on the books but no grain in the bins. Verified shortfalls led to the replacement of the magistrates responsible. In Yongzheng 13, Grand Secretary Fang Bao proposed three reforms to Ever-Normal grain sales: "First, the rule of retaining seven parts and selling three each year means that when prices spike, officials must wait for memorials and approved prices before selling—so the poor gain nothing in time of need. Let each district set an official price at its discretion, open sales at once, and report upward afterward. Second, south of the Yangtze and Huai the air is low and damp. A rigid seven-to-three rule would, within a few years, leave millions of shi to rot. Terrified of punishment, officials would dump spoiled grain on rural households. Instruct southern governors to inspect stored grain by quality and color, and set retain-and-sell ratios by region and year; and in the five northern provinces, in lean years, do not insist on the seven-three rule. Third, stored grain suffers rat damage; audits deduct shrinkage; transport costs accrue; sales, purchases, and guarding all consume labor and supplies. Any small surplus from spring sales barely covers these expenses. Instruct circuit intendants and prefects to audit at year's end. If totals are sound, they must not extort officials on false pretenses. When autumn purchase prices are low and a genuine surplus remains after expenses, report it to superiors and set it aside for lean years. The ministry reviewed the proposal and put it into effect.

乾隆三年，兩江總督那蘇圖疏言平糶之事，止須比市價酌減一二分。兩廣總督鄂彌達亦言：「平糶之價，不宜頓減。蓋小民較量錙銖，若平糶時官價與市價懸殊，則市儈必有藏以待價，而小民藉以舉火者，必皆仰資官穀。倉儲有限，商販反得居奇，是欲平糶而糶仍未平也。從來貨積價落，民間既有官穀可糴，不全賴鋪戶之米，鋪戶見官穀所減有限，亦必稍低其價以冀流通。請照市價止減十一，以次遞減，期年而止，則鋪戶無所操其權，而官穀不至虞其匱。」均報可。七年，諭：「從前張渠奏請減價糶穀，成熟之年，每石照巿價減五分，米貴之年減一錢。但思歉歲止減一錢，窮民得米仍艱。嗣後著督撫臨時酌量應減若干，奏明請旨。如有奸民賤糴貴糶，嚴拏究治。」

In Qianlong 3, Nasutu, Governor-General of Liangjiang, argued that Ever-Normal sales need only undercut market prices by one or two tenths. E Mingda, Governor-General of Liangguang, added: "Ever-Normal prices should not be cut sharply. Ordinary people count every coin. If official sale prices diverge sharply from the market, shopkeepers hoard grain and wait; the poor, who depend on cheap grain to cook their meals, must then rely entirely on the granaries. Granary stocks are finite, yet merchants corner the market—so the effort to stabilize prices stabilizes nothing. When supply piles up, prices fall. If people can buy official grain, they need not depend wholly on shop rice; and when shops see only a modest official discount, they too will lower prices to keep goods moving. Cut prices only one-tenth below market, tapering further over a year and then stopping. Shopkeepers lose their leverage, and official stocks are not drained. Both memorials were approved. In the seventh year, an edict recalled Zhang Qu's earlier proposal to sell grain below market: in good harvest years, five fen per shi below market; in scarce years, one qian. Yet in lean years a one-qian reduction still leaves the poor struggling to buy rice. Henceforth governors-general and governors shall decide reductions case by case, report their reasoning, and seek the throne's approval. Anyone who buys cheap official grain and resells at a profit shall be seized and punished severely."

十三年，高宗諭大學士、戶部曰：「邇來常平倉額日增，有礙民食，嗣後應以雍正年間舊額為準。」尋議雲南不近水次，陝、甘兼備軍務，向無定額，請以現額為準。雲南七十萬石，西安二百七十萬石，甘肅三百七十萬石，各有奇。又福建環山帶海，商運不通，廣東嶺海交錯，產穀無幾，貴州不通舟楫，積貯均宜充裕，以現額為準，福建二百五十餘萬石，廣東二百九十餘萬石，貴州五十萬石。其餘照雍正年間舊額：直隸二百一十萬石，奉天百二十萬石，山東二百九十萬石，山西百三十萬石，河南二百三十萬石，江蘇百五十萬石，安徽百八十萬石，江西百三十萬石，浙江二百八十萬石，湖北五十萬石，湖南七十萬石，四川百萬石，廣西二十萬石，各有奇，通計十九省貯穀三千三百七十餘萬石，較舊額四千四百餘萬石，應減貯千四百餘萬石。自是各省或額缺不補。二十三年，特諭採買還倉。三十一年，各省奏銷，報實存穀數，惟江西、河南、廣東與十三年定額相同。其視舊額增多者：湖南百四十三萬石，山西二百三十萬石，四川百八十五萬石，廣西百八十三萬石，雲南、貴州皆八十餘萬石。而浙江視舊額減少二百二十萬石，奉天減少百萬，甘肅減少百四十萬；其直隸、江蘇、安徽、福建、湖北、山東、陝西或減二十萬、或減五六十萬。蓋聚之難而耗之易如此。

In the thirteenth year, the Qianlong Emperor told the Grand Secretaries and the Ministry of Revenue: "Ever-Normal quotas have been swelling and squeezing the food supply. Hereafter use the Yongzheng-era quotas as the standard. Officials then ruled that Yunnan, far from water transport, and Shaanxi and Gansu, burdened with military needs and never given fixed quotas, should keep their present levels. Those levels were Yunnan at seven hundred thousand shi, Xi'an at two million seven hundred thousand, and Gansu at three million seven hundred thousand, each with a fractional remainder. Fujian, hemmed in by mountains and sea with poor commercial transport; Guangdong, a tangle of coast and ridge with little surplus grain; and Guizhou, without river shipping—all needed generous reserves at current levels: Fujian over two million five hundred thousand shi, Guangdong over two million nine hundred thousand, Guizhou five hundred thousand. All other provinces reverted to Yongzheng quotas: Zhili two million one hundred thousand shi; Fengtian one million two hundred thousand; Shandong two million nine hundred thousand; Shanxi one million three hundred thousand; Henan two million three hundred thousand; Jiangsu one million five hundred thousand; Anhui one million eight hundred thousand; Jiangxi one million three hundred thousand; Zhejiang two million eight hundred thousand; Hubei five hundred thousand; Hunan seven hundred thousand; Sichuan one million; Guangxi two hundred thousand—each with a fractional remainder. Nineteen provinces together would hold some three million three hundred seventy thousand shi, down from the old aggregate of four million four hundred thousand—a cut of roughly one million four hundred thousand. After that, many provinces simply stopped filling quota gaps. In the twenty-third year, an imperial order commanded provinces to buy grain and restock the granaries. In the thirty-first year, provincial accounts showed actual stocks; only Jiangxi, Henan, and Guangdong still matched the quotas fixed in the thirteenth year. Provinces above their old quotas included Hunan at one million four hundred thirty thousand shi, Shanxi at two million three hundred thousand, Sichuan at one million eight hundred fifty thousand, Guangxi at one million eight hundred thirty thousand, and Yunnan and Guizhou each at over eight hundred thousand. Zhejiang had fallen two million two hundred thousand shi below quota; Fengtian by one million; Gansu by one million four hundred thousand; and Zhili, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Hubei, Shandong, and Shaanxi had each lost two hundred thousand or five to six hundred thousand shi. So it went: hoarding was arduous, dissipation effortless.

嘉慶初，仁宗屢下買補之令。四年，諭曰：「國家設立常平倉，若不照額存儲，僅將穀價貯庫，猝遇需米之時，豈銀所能濟用？」命各省採買還倉。十七年，戶部浙江司所存常平倉穀數凡三千三百五十萬八千五百七十五石有奇，去乾隆中定額猶不遠。至道光十一年，副都御史劉重麟、御史卞士雲先後疏言，各直省州縣於常平倉大率有價無穀，其價又不免侵用。帝命各督撫嚴覈究治。然據十五年戶部奏，查各省常平倉穀實數，仍止二千四百餘萬石，又非嘉慶時可比，況咸豐間天下崩亂之日乎。同治三年諭：「近來軍務繁興，寇盜蜂起，所至地方輒以糧盡被陷，其故由各州縣恣意侵挪，遇變無所依賴。嗣後各省常平倉，責成督撫認真整頓。」迨光緒初，直隸、河南、陝西、山西迭遭旱災，飢民死者日近萬人。四年，給事中崔穆之，八年，御史鄔純嘏，復先後請籌辦倉穀，於是各督撫始稍加意焉。

Early in the Jiaqing reign, the emperor repeatedly ordered provinces to buy grain and make up shortfalls. In the fourth year, an edict asked: "Ever-Normal granaries exist so the state holds grain, not merely cash equivalents on the books. In a sudden crisis, what good is silver alone? Provinces were ordered to buy grain and return it to the bins. In the seventeenth year, the ministry's Zhejiang office counted three million three hundred fifty thousand eight hundred seventy-five shi in Ever-Normal stores—still close to the Qianlong quota. By Daoguang 11, Liu Chonglin and Bian Shiyun had warned in separate memorials that across the empire Ever-Normal granaries mostly showed cash on the ledgers but empty bins—and even that cash was often diverted. The throne commanded governors-general and governors to audit ruthlessly and punish offenders. Yet a ministry report in the fifteenth year put actual provincial stocks at only two million four hundred thousand shi—already far below Jiaqing levels, and that was before the chaos of the Xianfeng era. In Tongzhi 3, an edict lamented: "War spreads and bandits swarm; towns fall when grain runs out because magistrates raid the granaries, leaving nothing in a crisis. Henceforth governors-general and governors must take personal responsibility for restoring Ever-Normal granaries in their provinces. In early Guangxu, drought struck Zhili, Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi in turn; famine killed nearly ten thousand people daily. In Guangxu 4, Cui Muzhi, and in Guangxu 8, Wu Chungu petitioned again for granary restoration—only then did provincial leaders begin to take the matter seriously.

其社義各倉，起於康熙十八年。戶部題准鄉村立社倉，市鎮立義倉，公舉本鄉之人，出陳易新。春日借貸，秋收償還，每石取息一斗，歲底州縣將數目呈詳上司報部。六十年，奉差山西左都御史硃軾奏請山西建立社倉，諭曰：「從前李光地以社倉具奏，朕諭言易行難。行之數年，果無成效。張伯行亦奏稱社倉之益，朕令伊暫行永平地方，其有效與否，至今未奏。凡建設社倉，務須選擇地方敦實之人董率其事。此人並非官吏，借出之米，還補時遣何人催納？即豐收之年，尚難還補，何況歉歲？其初將眾人米穀扣出收貯，無人看守，及米石缺空，勢必令司其事者賠償，是空將眾人之米棄於無用，而司事者無故為人破產賠償也。社倉之法，僅可小邑鄉村，若由官吏施行，於民無益。今硃軾復以此為請，即令伊久住山西，鼓勵試行。」雍正二年，諭湖廣總督楊宗仁、湖北巡撫納齊喀、湖南巡撫魏廷珍等：「前命建社倉，本為民計。勸捐須俟年豐，如值歉歲，即予展限。一切條約，有司勿預，庶不使社倉頓成官倉。今乃令各州縣應輸正賦一兩者，加納社倉穀一石。聞楚省穀石現價四五錢不等，是何異於一兩正賦外加收四五錢火耗耶？」尋議定：凡州縣官止任稽查，其勸獎捐輸之法，自花紅遞加扁額以至八品冠帶。如正副社長管理十年無過，亦以八品冠帶給之。其收息之法，凡借本穀一石，冬間收息二斗。小歉減半，大歉全免，祗收本穀。至十年後，息倍於本，祗以加一行息。

Community and benevolent granaries dated from Kangxi 18. The Ministry of Revenue approved village community granaries and market-town benevolent granaries, managed by locally chosen men who rotated old stock for new. Grain was lent in spring and repaid after harvest at one dou interest per shi; at year's end districts reported totals upward to the ministry. In the sixtieth year, Zhu Zhi, Left Censor-in-Chief on assignment in Shanxi, asked to establish community granaries there. The emperor replied: "When Li Guangdi proposed community granaries, I said the idea was easier announced than done. Several years of trial proved him right: nothing came of it. Zhang Boxing too praised the system; I let him test it in Yongping. He has never reported whether it worked. Any community granary requires sober, reliable local leaders. They are not officials—who will enforce repayment when loans come due? Even in good years collections fail; in lean years, how could they succeed? Grain is taken from households and stored without proper guards. When bins go empty, managers must pay—so the community's grain is wasted and innocent stewards bankrupted. Community granaries may work in small towns and villages; run by officials, they help no one. Zhu Zhi asks again; let him stay in Shanxi and try—but do not expect miracles. In Yongzheng 2, the throne wrote Yang Zongren, Naqika, Wei Tingzhen, and other Huguang officials: "Community granaries were ordered for the people's benefit. Ask for donations only in good harvest years; defer quotas in bad ones. Keep officials out of the rules, or community granaries become government granaries overnight. Yet you now require one shi of community grain for every tael of regular tax. I hear grain in Huguang now costs four or five qian a shi. That is no different from slapping four or five qian of surcharge on every tael of tax. Regulations followed: magistrates would only supervise. Donors earned rewards from floral banners and plaques up to the cap and sash of an eighth-rank honor. Headmen who managed a granary faultlessly for ten years could receive the same eighth-rank honor. Interest was set at two dou per shi lent, collected in winter. In mild shortages, interest was halved; in severe ones, waived—only principal was collected. After ten years, when interest equaled principal, only one further increment of interest was charged.

三年，從江蘇巡撫何天培請，止頒行社倉五事：一，賑貸均預造排門冊存案；一，正副社長外，再舉一殷實者總司其事；一，州縣官不許干預出納；一，所需紙筆，必勸募樂輸，或官撥罰項充用；一，積穀既多，應於夏秋之交，減價平糶，秋收後照時價買補。

In the third year, at He Tianpei's request, five community-granary rules were issued: first, relief loans required door-by-door registers prepared in advance and kept on file; second, besides chief and deputy headmen, a third reputable man was to oversee operations; third, magistrates must not meddle in receipts and disbursements; fourth, stationery costs must come from voluntary donations or official fines; fifth, when stocks grew large, grain should be sold at reduced Ever-Normal prices between summer and autumn and repurchased after harvest at market rates.

五年，因湖廣社倉虧空，諭：「邇年督撫辦社倉最力者，惟湖廣總督楊宗仁。今據福敏盤查，始知原報甚多，而現貯無幾。朕思舉行此法實難。我聖祖仁皇帝深知之，是以李光地奏請而未允，張伯行暫行而即罷。蓋在富民無藉乎倉，則輸納不前，而貧者又無餘粟可納。至於州縣官，實心者豈可多得？湖廣虧缺之數，倘系州縣私用，必嚴追賠補，或民間原未交倉，或交倉之數與原報多寡不符，若令照數完納，恐力未敷，須斟酌辦理。」六年，世宗諭曰：「前岳鍾琪請於通省加二火耗內應行裁減每兩五分之數，且暫徵收，發民買穀，分貯社倉，俟數足即行裁減，是以暫收耗羨之中，隱寓勸輸之法，實則應行斟酌之耗羨，即小民切己之貲財，而代民買貯之倉儲，即小民自捐之積貯。乃陝省官員以為收貯在官，即是官物，而胥吏司其出納者，遂有勒買勒借之弊。今特曉示，鐫石頒布，儻地方官有如前者，以撓擾國政、貽誤民生治罪。」

In the fifth year, after Huguang's community granaries showed massive deficits, an edict noted: "Of recent governors, none pushed community granaries harder than Yang Zongren in Huguang. Fu Min's audit now shows the original reports wildly inflated and almost nothing left in store. I have always known this scheme is hard to make work. Kangxi understood it well—hence Li Guangdi's petition was denied and Zhang Boxing's trial was cut short. The rich need no granary and will not give; the poor have nothing to give. And how many magistrates are truly honest stewards? If Huguang's shortfall came from official theft, pursue restitution ruthlessly. If grain was never delivered, or deliveries fell short of reported totals, demanding full payment may exceed people's means—handle such cases with discretion. In the sixth year, the Yongzheng Emperor explained Yue Zhongqi's plan: temporarily keep five fen of each tael from the province's two-percent surcharge, use it to buy grain for community granaries, then cut the levy once stocks were full. The surcharge was the people's money; grain bought with it was the people's reserve. Shaanxi officials treated stored grain as government property. Clerks who controlled the bins then forced purchases and forced loans. Let this be carved in stone and published abroad: any official who repeats those abuses will be punished for sabotaging policy and harming the people."

乾隆四年，戶部議准陝西巡撫張楷奏定社倉事例：一，社長三年更換；一，春借時酌留一半，以防秋歉；一，限每年清還；一，將借戶穀數姓名曉示；一，令地方官稽查交代分賠。五年，議定陝、甘社穀凡系民間者，聽自擇倉正、副管理。其系加二耗糧內留五分為社糧者，責成地方官經理，入於交代。自是之後，州縣官視同官物，凡遇出借，層遞具詳，雖屬青黃不接，而上司批行未到，小民無由借領。此後應請令州縣於每年封印後，酌定借期，一面通詳，一面出借，其期按耕種遲早以為先後。得旨允行。

In Qianlong 4 the Board of Revenue approved Shaanxi Governor Zhang Kai's regulations for communal granaries: communal chiefs would rotate every three years; at spring lending, half the grain was to be held back against a poor autumn harvest; loans had to be fully repaid every year; borrowers' names and grain amounts were to be posted publicly; local officials were to audit handovers and assign liability for shortfalls. In the fifth year Shaanxi and Gansu communal grain that was truly private property could be managed by granary chiefs chosen by the community. Communal grain drawn from the five-fen surcharge on the two-fen levy was placed under official management and entered into turnover records. Thereafter county and prefectural officials treated communal grain as state property. Every loan required layered reports, and even at the hungry gap between spring sowing and autumn harvest, commoners could not borrow until superiors signed off. It was then proposed that after the annual sealing of accounts, each county set its lending season, disbursing grain while filing reports, with earlier planting regions borrowing first. The throne approved the proposal.

十八年，直隸總督方觀承疏言：「義倉始於隋長孫平，至宋硃子而規畫詳備。雖以社為名，實與義同例。其要在地近其人，人習其事，官之為民計，不若民之自為計，故守以民而不守以官，城之專為備，不若鄉之多為備，故貯於鄉而不貯於城。今使諸有司於四鄉酌設，粟黍從便，並選擇倉正、副管理，不使胥吏干預。現據報捐穀數共二十八萬五千三百餘石，合百四十四州縣衛所，共村莊三萬五千二百一十，為倉千有五。」帝嘉之。三十七年，戶部議准，社倉仍令官經理出納。

In the eighteenth year Zhili Governor-General Fang Guancheng wrote: "Charity granaries began with Chang Sunping in the Sui; by the Song, Zhu Xi had worked out the scheme in full. Though called communal granaries, in practice they followed the charity-granary precedent. The point is proximity: people who know the land and the work. Officials planning for villagers cannot match villagers planning for themselves, so granaries should be kept by the people, not by the state. One city store cannot match many village stores, so grain should be kept in the countryside, not in town. Let magistrates set up granaries across the four quarters of each district, storing grain or millet as local custom dictates, with chosen chief and deputy managers—and no clerks or runners in the accounts. Reports already showed more than 285,300 shi donated, spread across 144 prefectures, counties, garrisons, and posts, 35,210 villages, and 1,500 granaries. 」The emperor praised the plan. In the thirty-seventh year the Board of Revenue again placed communal granaries under official control of receipts and disbursements.

嘉慶四年，又議准社義各倉出納，由正、副長經理，止呈官立案。道光五年，安徽巡撫陶澍疏言：「義倉苟欲鮮弊，惟有秋收後聽民間量力輸捐，自擇老成者管理，不減糶，不出易，不借貸，專意存貯，以待放賑。」如所議行。其後軍興，各省皆廢。同治六年，特諭興復。光緒中，惟陝西巡撫馮譽驥所籌建者千六百餘所為最多雲。

In Jiaqing 4 communal and charity granaries were again managed by their chief and deputy heads, who need only register accounts with the magistrate. In Daoguang 5 Anhui Governor Tao Shu argued: "To keep charity granaries clean, let people donate what they can after the autumn harvest, choose trustworthy elders to manage them, forbid cut-rate sales, cash exchanges, and loans, and store grain only for relief. 」The court approved his plan. When war came, every province let them lapse. In Tongzhi 6 an edict ordered their revival. In the Guangxu period Shaanxi Governor Feng Yuji led the field, it is said, with more than 1,600 granaries rebuilt.

其旗倉在東三省者，初皆貯米二千萬石。營倉自康熙二十二年始。時山海關各口建倉，達於黑龍江墨爾根。三十年，令江寧、京口等處各截留漕米十萬石存貯。三十六年，諭沿邊衛堡如榆林等處均貯穀。四十九年，以湖南鎮筸改協為鎮，撥借帑銀三千兩，買穀貯倉。五十四年，命貯米密雲、古北口。雍正三年，貯穀歸化城土拉庫。四十七年，先後命廣東提標各營暨諸鎮協均貯穀，其後復推行貴州、四川、浙江、福建、河南。十一年，命喜峰口貯穀。

Banner granaries in the Three Eastern Provinces originally held twenty million shi apiece. Garrison granaries date from Kangxi 22. Granaries were then built at Shanhaiguan and the frontier passes, reaching Mo'ergen on the Amur. In the thirtieth year Jiangning, Jingkou, and other posts were each told to set aside 100,000 shi of tribute grain. In the thirty-sixth year frontier garrisons and forts such as Yulin were ordered to store grain. In the forty-ninth year, when Hunan's Zhenqian unit was upgraded from cooperative to garrison, 3,000 taels were lent from the treasury to buy grain for storage. In the fifty-fourth year grain stores were established at Miyun and Gubeikou. In Yongzheng 3 grain was stored at Tula, outside Guihua. In the forty-seventh year Guangdong's provincial brigade camps and garrison cooperatives were ordered in turn to store grain, and the practice later spread to Guizhou, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Henan. In the eleventh year grain was stored at Xifengkou.

乾隆元年，設河標營倉。十一年，又命山東河標設立。鹽義倉，自雍正四年始。時兩淮眾商捐銀二十四萬，為江南買穀建倉之用，巡鹽御史噶爾泰以聞，並繳公務銀八萬，共三十二萬。諭以三萬賞給噶爾泰，餘照所請，賜名「鹽義」。既而浙江眾商亦捐銀十萬，諭巡撫李衛於杭州建倉。乾隆九年，又准山東票商仿行。

In Qianlong 1 river-brigade garrison granaries were established. In the eleventh year Shandong's river brigade was ordered to do the same. Salt charity granaries began in Yongzheng 4. Merchants of the Lianghuai salt region then donated 240,000 taels to buy grain and build granaries in Jiangnan. Salt Censor Ga'ertai reported the gift and added 80,000 taels of public funds, for 320,000 in all. The throne rewarded Ga'ertai with 30,000 taels and, as he had asked, applied the rest to granaries named "Salt Charity." Soon Zhejiang merchants donated another 100,000 taels, and Governor Li Wei was ordered to build a granary at Hangzhou. In Qianlong 9 Shandong's ticket merchants were allowed to follow suit.

庫之在京師屬內務府者，設御用監掌之。順治十六年改為廣儲司。十八年，分設緞庫、銀庫、皮庫、衣庫。康熙十八年，增設茶庫、磁庫，合之為六。其屬於戶部者，曰銀庫、曰緞庫、曰顏料庫，合之為三。此外盛京戶部銀庫，貯金銀、幣帛、顏料等物，以供二陵祭祀，及東三省官兵俸餉賞賚之用。各省將軍、副都統、城守尉庫，各貯官兵俸餉，及雜稅官莊糶買糧價。布政使司庫，貯各州縣歲徵田賦、雜賦銀。按察司庫，貯贓罰銀錢。糧道庫，貯漕賦銀、驛站馬夫工料。河道庫，貯河餉。兵備道庫，貯兵餉。鹽運使司鹽課各稅務由部差者，有監督庫。如道、府、廳、州、縣官兼理者，有兼理徘庫，均貯關鈔。地居衝要之分巡道庫、府庫、直隸州庫及分駐苗疆之同知、通判庫，均量地方大小，距省遠近，酌量撥司庫銀分貯。州、縣、衛所庫，貯本色正雜賦銀，存留者照數坐支，輸運者輸布政使司庫。

Capital treasuries under the Imperial Household were run by the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories. In Shunzhi 16 this office became the Department of Broad Storage. In the eighteenth year separate treasuries were set up for brocade, silver, furs, and clothing. In Kangxi 18 tea and porcelain treasuries were added, for six in all. Treasuries under the Board of Revenue were the silver, brocade, and pigments stores—three altogether. The Mukden Board of Revenue silver treasury, besides these, held gold, silver, silks, and pigments for sacrifices at the two imperial tombs and for pay and rewards to troops in the Three Eastern Provinces. Each provincial general, lieutenant-general, and garrison commander kept a treasury for troop pay and for grain bought with miscellaneous taxes and revenue from official estates. The fiscal commissioner's provincial treasury held land and miscellaneous tax silver collected yearly from counties and prefectures. The judicial commissioner's treasury held fines and confiscated property. The grain-route treasury held tribute-transport tax silver and funds for relay horses and couriers. The river conservancy treasury held funds for river works. The military preparedness circuit treasury held military pay. Salt levies under the salt transport commissioner and various tax offices dispatched by the Board had superintendent treasuries. Where circuit, prefectural, subprefectural, departmental, county, and post officials jointly handled tax affairs, there were joint customs treasuries holding transit duties. Treasuries at strategic circuit posts, in prefectures and directly administered departments, and with subprefects and prefects stationed in Miao country all received provincial silver in amounts scaled to local importance and distance from the capital of the province. Department, county, and garrison treasuries held land and miscellaneous tax silver on hand; what was kept locally was spent there, and what was forwarded went to the fiscal commissioner.

凡諸庫每歲出納之數，皆造冊送戶部察覈，惟贓罰例輸之刑部。河工兵餉又兼達兵、工兩部。戶部於直省庫儲，其別有五。曰封儲。如酌留各布政司銀兩，督撫公同封儲，有急需，題奏動支，擅用論斬是也。此制定於雍正五年。以直隸近京，獨無留貯。各省自三十萬至十萬，析為三等。其後直隸亦有之。惟盛京戶部銀庫，自乾隆四十二年由京撥給一千萬，永遠存貯。四十三年，覆命將軍兼管。曰分儲。如各省道庫、府庫，封貯銀兩，遇州縣急需，請領即行發給，一面詳報籓司督撫，仍令各州縣將支銷銀兩，隨案具詳聽覈是也。其後各繁劇州縣，亦照京縣例撥貯，而未有定額。及雍正八年，乃定各省道、府、州、縣分貯之額，自三十萬至十萬，析為四等。曰留儲。如存留屬庫坐支銀兩，撥款給發，例免解司是也。曰解儲。如布政使司庫，儲府、州、縣、衛解送正雜賦銀；按察司庫，收贓罰銀；及將軍、副都統、城守尉庫，糧道庫，收各處移解官兵俸餉漕項等銀是也。曰撥儲。如各省兵備道庫，歲儲由布政司或鄰省撥解官兵銀，河道庫，歲儲本省及鄰省撥解官兵俸餉，並歲修搶修銀，及伊犁歲需俸餉銀，塔爾巴哈台歲需新餉銀，西藏歲需台費銀，雲南歲需銅本銀，貴州歲需鉛本銀，皆由各省撥解是也。戶部總稽之，俾慎其收發，令各省解部地丁，將足色紋銀傾鎔元寶，合部頒法馬，每枚五十兩，勿加滴珠。

Every treasury sent annual account books to the Board of Revenue for review; only fines went routinely to the Board of Punishments. River works and military pay were also reported to the War and Works boards. The Board of Revenue divided provincial reserves into five kinds. Sealed reserves. Silver retained at each fiscal commissioner's office and jointly sealed by governor and governor-general: if urgently needed, it could be drawn only by memorial; unauthorized use was capital crime. The rule was set in Yongzheng 5. Zhili alone, being near the capital, at first kept no reserve. Other provinces kept reserves of 300,000, 200,000, or 100,000 taels in three grades. Later Zhili received reserves too. Only the Mukden Board of Revenue silver treasury, from Qianlong 42, received ten million taels from the capital for permanent storage. In the forty-third year the general was again placed in charge. Distributed reserves. Sealed silver kept in circuit and prefectural treasuries: when a county urgently needed funds it could draw them at once while reporting to the fiscal commissioner and governor, but still had to account for every expenditure. Later busy counties and prefectures also received operating balances on the model of capital counties, though without fixed amounts. In Yongzheng 8 fixed quotas were set for circuit, prefectural, departmental, and county reserves, from 300,000 down to 100,000 taels in four grades. Retained reserves. Silver kept in subordinate treasuries for local spending, allocated and paid out without remitting to the provincial treasury. Forwarded reserves. The fiscal commissioner's treasury, holding land and miscellaneous tax silver forwarded from prefectures, departments, counties, and garrisons; the judicial commissioner's treasury, receiving fines; and treasuries of generals, lieutenant-generals, garrison commanders, and grain-route officials, receiving transferred military pay, tribute funds, and the like. Allocated reserves. Military preparedness circuit treasuries held yearly troop pay allocated by the fiscal commissioner or neighboring provinces; river conservancy treasuries held local and neighboring military pay plus routine and emergency repair funds; and pay for Ili, new funds for Tarbagatai, stipends for Tibet, copper capital for Yunnan, and lead capital for Guizhou all came by provincial allocation. The Board of Revenue supervised the whole system and required careful handling. Land tax silver sent to the capital had to be melted into fifty-tael ingots to the Board's standard weights, without shaved drip beads.

凡起解餉銀，布政使親同解官兌封押字，令庫官鈐印，當堂裝鞘，給發兵牌。又州縣官錢糧交代，由接任官造具接收冊結，同監盤官印結，上司加結送司，詳請咨部，不得逾限。布政使升轉離任，將庫儲錢糧並無虧挪之處附奏，其新任接收，亦具摺奏聞，仍照例限詳題。按察使交代，由巡撫會同籓司查覈詳題，且時其盤查，令各督撫於布政使司庫錢糧奏銷交代時，親赴盤查，具結報題。督撫新任亦然。府、州、縣庫儲錢糧奏銷時，所管道、府親赴盤查結報，不得委查取結，及預示日期，縱令掩飾。

Whenever pay silver left the province, the fiscal commissioner personally joined the escort officer to verify seals and tally marks, had treasury officers seal the cases in open court, and issued military travel warrants. For magistrates' cash and grain handovers, the incoming officer drew up receiving registers and certificates with the inventory supervisor; superiors added their seals and forwarded them to the commissioner and then the Board, all within statutory deadlines. When a fiscal commissioner was promoted or departed, he memorialized that the treasury showed no shortage; his successor reported receipt in the same way and still filed full accounts within the time allowed. Judicial commissioner handovers were audited by the governor together with the fiscal commissioner. Governors and governors-general were also to inspect on schedule, and when fiscal treasuries were closed at turnover they had to inspect in person, certify, and report. New governors and governors-general were subject to the same rule. When prefectural, departmental, and county treasuries were closed, the supervising circuit intendant or prefect had to inspect in person and report. Delegation, advance warning of inspection dates, and connivance at concealment were forbidden.

至戶部銀庫，康熙四十五年，以貯銀多，諭將每年新收銀別行收貯，至用銀時，將舊銀依次取用。乾隆四十一年，戶部奏准各直省解京銀兩，無論元寶、小錠，必鏨鑿州縣年月及銀匠姓名。嘉慶十九年，命各省銀解部，隨到隨交。道光十二年，又命官解官交。蓋向來京餉及捐項，皆由銀號交庫也，然其弊不易革。同治三年，戶部奏准凡由銀號交庫者，均收足色銀兩，錠面鏨明某號字樣，倘有弊端，即照原數加十倍罰賠。光緒四年，又奏准嗣後各省督撫並各路統兵大臣赴部領餉，須遵章遞印領，蓋所以重庫儲而杜流弊也。

At the Board of Revenue silver treasury, Kangxi 45, because stocks had grown large, newly received silver was stored separately each year and old silver was spent first. In Qianlong 41 the Board required all provincial silver sent to the capital, whether large ingots or small sycee, to be stamped with the county, year, month, and silversmith's name. In Jiaqing 19 provincial silver sent to the Board had to be delivered as soon as it arrived. In Daoguang 12 the court again required official dispatch and official delivery. Capital pay and donated funds had long been paid in through private banks, and the abuses proved hard to uproot. In Tongzhi 3 the Board ruled that bank deliveries must be full-standard silver with the house mark stamped on each ingot; fraud would bring a tenfold penalty on the original sum. In Guangxu 4 the Board again required provincial governors and field commanders drawing pay at the ministry to follow the rules for sealed requisitions—safeguarding the treasury and blocking leakage and fraud.

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