Volume 173 Treatises 126: Finance and Economics 1a

食貨上一〈（農田）〉

Food and Money, Part One (Farmland) — end of section title.〉

昔武王克商，訪箕子以治道，箕子為之陳《洪範》九疇，五行五事之次，即曰“農用八政”，八政之目，即以食貨為先。五行，天道也；五事，人道也。天人之道治，而國家之政興焉。是故食貨而下，五卿之職備舉於是矣：宗伯掌邦禮，祀必有食貨而後儀物備，賓必有食貨而後委積豐；司空掌邦土，民必有食貨而後可奠於厥居；司徒掌邦教，民必有食貨而後可興於禮義；司寇掌邦禁，民必有食貨而後可遠於刑罰；司馬掌邦政，兵必有食貨而後可用於征戍。其曰“農用八政”，農，食貨之本也。唐杜佑作《通典》，首食貨而先田製，其能推本《洪範》八政之意歟。

Long ago, when King Wu overthrew the Shang, he sought Jizi's counsel on how to govern. Jizi set forth for him the nine divisions of the 《Hong Fan》, ordering the Five Processes and the Five Affairs, and declared that "agriculture employs the eight governmental duties"—and among those eight, food and wealth stood first. The Five Processes belong to the Way of Heaven; the Five Affairs belong to the way of humanity. When the ways of Heaven and of man are well ordered, the government of the state flourishes. Thus, beneath food and wealth, the full duties of the five ministers were gathered: the Director of Rites oversaw the state's ceremonies—sacrifices required provisions before ritual implements could be complete, and guests required provisions before stored supplies could be ample; the Minister of Works oversaw the state's land—the people needed food and wealth before they could settle in their homes; the Minister of Education oversaw the state's instruction—the people needed food and wealth before they could be raised up in ritual and righteousness; the Minister of Justice oversaw the state's prohibitions—the people needed food and wealth before they could keep clear of punishment; the Minister of War oversaw the state's administration—armies needed food and wealth before they could be sent on campaign or stationed on the frontier. When the text says that "agriculture employs the eight governmental duties," it means that agriculture is the foundation of food and wealth. In the Tang, Du You composed the 《Tong Dian》, putting food and wealth first and field systems ahead of all else. Surely he grasped the root intent of the eight duties in the Great Plan.

宋承唐、五季之後，太祖興，削平諸國，除藩鎮留州之法，而粟帛錢幣咸聚王畿；嚴守令勸農之條，而稻、粱、桑、枲務盡地力。至於太宗，國用殷實，輕賦薄斂之製，日與群臣講求而行之。傳至真宗，內則升中告成之事舉，外則和戎安邊之事滋，由是食貨之議，日盛一日。仁宗之世，契丹增幣，夏國增賜，養兵兩陲，費累百萬；然帝性恭儉寡欲，故取民之製，不至掊克。神宗欲伸中國之威，革前代之弊，王安石之流進售其強兵富國之術，而青苗、保甲之令行，民始罹其害矣。哲宗元祐更化，斯民稍望休息；紹聖而後，章惇倡紹述之謀，秕政復作。徽宗既立，蔡京為豐亨豫大之言，苛征暴斂，以濟多欲，自速禍敗。高宗南渡，雖失舊物之半，猶席東南地產之饒，足以裕國。然百五十年之間，公私粗給而已。

The Song rose after the Tang and the Five Dynasties. When Taizu came to power, he conquered the rival states, abolished the practice of leaving military governors in charge of prefectures, and grain, silk, and coin all flowed into the imperial domain; he strictly enforced rules requiring local officials to encourage farming, and rice, millet, mulberry, and hemp all drew fully on the land's strength. By Taizong's reign the treasury was flush, and policies of light taxation and modest levies were discussed with his ministers day after day and carried out. Under Zhenzong, within the court the great rites on Mount Tai were completed, while abroad peace treaties and border security consumed ever more attention—so debate over food and wealth grew daily more intense. In Renzong's time tribute to the Khitan was increased, gifts to the Western Xia were increased, and maintaining armies on both frontiers cost millions upon millions; yet the emperor was by nature respectful, frugal, and sparing in desire, so the measures for drawing revenue from the people never descended into outright plunder. Shenzong wished to extend the prestige of the central realm and reform the abuses of earlier dynasties; men like Wang Anshi offered their schemes to strengthen the army and enrich the state, and when the Green Sprouts and Baojia policies took effect, the people first felt their harm. Under Zhezong's Yuanyou reforms the people briefly hoped for respite; but after the Shaosheng era Zhang Dun championed a return to the founder's policies, and harmful measures were revived. After Huizong ascended the throne, Cai Jing preached boundless prosperity and ease, imposing harsh levies and violent exactions to satisfy countless desires—and thus hastened catastrophe. When Gaozong crossed south, though half the old domain was lost, the court still drew on the abundant produce of the southeast, enough to sustain the state. Yet across a hundred and fifty years, public and private means were only barely sufficient.

考其祖宗立國初意，以忠厚仁恕為基，向使究其所為，勉而進於王道，亦孰能禦之哉？然終宋之世，享國不為不長，其租稅征榷，規撫節目，煩簡疏密，無以大異於前世，何哉？內則牽於繁文，外則撓於強敵，供億既多，調度不繼，勢不但已，徵求於民；謀國者處乎其間，又多伐異而黨同，易動而輕變。殊不知大國之製用，如巨商之理財，不求近效而貴遠利。宋臣於一事之行，初議不審，行之未幾，既區區然較其失得，尋議廢格。後之所議未有以愈於前，其後數人者，又復訾之如前。使上之為君者莫之適從，下之為民者無自信守，因革紛紜，非是貿亂，而事弊日益以甚矣。世謂儒者論議多於事功，若宋人之言食貸，大率然也。又謂漢文、景之殷富，得諸黃、老之清靜，為黃、老之學者，大忌於紛更，宋法果能然乎？時有古今，世有升降，天地生財，其數有限，國家用財，其端無窮，歸於一是，則“生之者眾，食之者寡，為之者疾，用之者舒”之外，無他技也。

Consider the founders' original intent in establishing the state: they took generous benevolence and forbearance as their foundation. Had they fully pursued that course and pressed on toward the kingly way, who could have stood against them? Yet through the whole Song period the dynasty endured no brief span; its land taxes, commodity levies, frameworks, and regulations—whether intricate or simple, dense or sparse—differed little from earlier ages. Why was this? Within, they were held back by elaborate ritual and paperwork; without, they were worn down by powerful enemies. Expenditures multiplied, revenues could not keep pace, and the pressure could not stop—so they turned to levies on the people; those who shaped policy amid this further tended to attack the unlike and band with their own faction, acting quickly and changing course lightly. They failed to see that a great state's management of resources, like a great merchant's management of capital, does not chase quick returns but prizes lasting gain. When Song ministers put a policy into practice, their initial deliberations were seldom thorough; before it had run long, they anxiously weighed its gains and losses and soon moved to repeal it. Later debates rarely improved on earlier ones, and after several men had passed through office they criticized the same measures all over again. So that rulers above had nowhere firm to stand, and the people below had nothing steady to rely on. Reforms and reversals piled up in confusion—not mere disorder—and affairs grew worse day by day. People say that Confucian scholars talk more than they achieve; on the Song debates over food and wealth, that was largely true. Others hold that the prosperity of Emperors Wen and Jing of Han came from the quietism of Huang-Lao doctrine, and that followers of Huang-Lao greatly dreaded frequent change—could Song policy truly have been like that? Times differ between antiquity and the present; ages rise and fall. Heaven and earth produce wealth in finite measure, while the state spends from endless sources. Reduced to one principle, beyond "many who produce, few who consume; swift in making, slow in using," there is no other art.

宋舊史誌食貨之法，或驟試而輒已，或亟言而未行。仍之則徒重篇帙，約之則不見其始末，姑去其泰甚，而存其可為鑒者焉。篇次離為上下：其一曰農田，二曰方田，三曰賦稅，四曰布帛，五曰和糴，六曰漕運，七曰屯田，八曰常平義倉，九曰課役，十曰振恤。或出或入，動關民生；國以民為本，故列之上篇焉。其一曰會計，二曰銅鐵錢，三曰會子，四曰鹽，五曰茶，六曰酒，七曰坑冶，八曰礬，九曰商稅，十曰市易，十一曰均輸，十二曰互市舶法。或損或益，有係國體；國不以利為利，故列之下篇焉。各疏其事，二十有二目，通為十有四卷雲。

In the old Song histories' treatises on food and wealth, some measures were tried in haste and then abandoned, while others were urged again and again yet never enacted. To retain everything would only swell the text; to condense too far would hide beginnings and ends. We therefore set aside the most extreme cases and keep what can serve as a warning. The treatise is divided into two parts. The upper part comprises: Farmland, Square Fields, Land Tax and Levies, Cloth and Silk, Government Grain Purchase, Canal Transport, Garrison Colonies, Ever-Normal and Righteous Granaries, Corvée Labor, and Disaster Relief. Whether revenue flows out or in, all bear directly on the people's livelihood; the state takes the people as its foundation, and so these topics are placed in the upper part. The lower part comprises: Accounting, Copper and Iron Currency, Paper Notes, Salt, Tea, Wine, Mining, Alum, Commercial Tax, Market Trade, Equalized Transport, and Border and Maritime Trade Regulations. Whether they diminish or augment revenue, all touch the fabric of the state; the state does not treat profit as its true profit, and so these topics are placed in the lower part. Each section sets forth its subject in detail—twenty-two topics in all, comprising fourteen scrolls altogether.

農田之製自五代以兵戰為務，條章多闕，周世宗始遣使均括諸州民田。太祖即位，循用其法，建隆以來，命官分詣諸道均田，苛暴失實者輒譴黜。申明周顯德三年之令，課民種樹，定民籍為五等，第一等種雜樹百，每等減二十為差，桑棗半之；男女十歲以上種韭一畦，闊一步，長十步；乏井者，鄰伍為鑿之；令、佐春秋巡視，書其數，秩滿，第其課為殿最。又詔所在長吏諭民，有能廣植桑棗、墾辟荒田者，止輸舊租；縣令、佐能招徠勸課，致戶口增羨、野無曠土者，議賞。諸州各隨風土所宜，量地廣狹，土壤瘠埆不宜種藝者，不須責課。遇豐歲，則諭民謹蓋歲，節費用，以備不虞。民伐桑棗為薪者罪之：剝桑三工以上，為首者死，從者流三千里；不滿三工者減死配役，從者徒三年。

Farmland policy: from the Five Dynasties onward war was the chief concern and many regulations were missing. Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou was the first to send envoys to survey and assess civilian fields in the various prefectures. When Taizu took the throne he continued this practice. From the Jianlong era onward he ordered officials to the various circuits to survey fields, and anyone who was harsh, violent, or failed to report truthfully was at once reprimanded and removed. He reissued the order from the third year of Xiande of Zhou, requiring the people to plant trees and fixing household registers in five grades: the first grade was to plant one hundred miscellaneous trees, each lower grade planting twenty fewer, with mulberry and jujube at half those numbers; males and females ten years of age and older were to plant one bed of chives, one pace wide and ten paces long; where wells were lacking, neighboring wards were to dig them; magistrates were to inspect in spring and autumn, record the numbers, and at the end of their terms rank their performance for promotion or demotion. He also ordered local chief officials to instruct the people that anyone who widely planted mulberry and jujube or opened wasteland need pay only the old land tax; magistrates who could attract settlers, encourage cultivation, increase household registers, and leave no idle land in the countryside were considered for reward. Each prefecture was to follow local soil conditions, measuring the breadth of the land; where the soil was thin and unsuitable for planting, no quotas were imposed. In years of abundance the people were instructed to store grain carefully, limit expenses, and prepare for the unforeseen. Those who cut mulberry or jujube for firewood were punished: if three trees or more were stripped, the ringleader was put to death and followers were exiled three thousand li; if fewer than three trees were involved, the ringleader received commuted death with penal service and followers were sentenced to three years' penal labor.

太宗太平興國中，兩京、諸路許民共推練土地之宜、明樹藝之法者一人，縣補為農師，令相視田畝肥瘠及五種所宜，某家有種，某戶有丁男，某人有耕牛；即同鄉三老、裏胥召集餘夫，分畫曠土，勸令種蒔，候歲熟共取其利。為農師者蠲稅免役。民有飲博怠於農務者，農師謹察之，白州縣論罪，以警遊惰。所墾田即為永業，官不取其租。其後以煩擾罷。初，農時，太宗嚐令取畿內青苗觀之，聽政之次，出示近臣。是歲，畿內菽粟苗皆長數尺。帝顧謂左右曰：“朕每念耕稼之勤，苟非兵食所資，固當盡復其租稅。”

In the Taiping xingguo era under Taizong, in the two capitals and all circuits the people were allowed jointly to recommend one person skilled in judging land suitability and planting methods. Such a person was appointed county agricultural master and ordered to survey whether fields were fertile or poor, which of the five grains each plot suited, which households had seed, which had adult males, and who owned plow oxen; together with the district elders and ward clerks he would summon surplus laborers, divide idle land, urge planting, and when the harvest came they would share the profit. Agricultural masters were exempted from tax and corvée labor. If any among the people drank, gambled, or neglected farm work, the agricultural master was to watch them closely, report them to the prefecture or county for punishment, and thereby warn the idle. Land thus opened became permanent property, and the government took no rent from it. Later the policy was abolished because it caused too much trouble. Early on, during the farming season, Taizong once ordered green seedlings from the metropolitan region to be brought for inspection, and between sessions of hearing cases he showed them to his close ministers. That year the bean and grain seedlings in the metropolitan region all grew several feet high. The emperor turned to those beside him and said, "I always reflect on the labor of tillage. If it were not needed for military provisions, I would indeed abolish all their land tax.

端拱初，親耕籍田，以勸農事。然畿甸民苦稅重，兄弟既壯乃析居，其田畝聚稅於一家，即棄去；縣歲按所棄地除其租，已而匿他舍，冒名佃作。帝聞而思革其弊，會知封丘縣竇比言之，乃詔賜緋魚，絹百匹；擢太子中允，知開封府司錄事，俾按察京畿諸縣田租。比專務苛刻以求課最，民實逃亡者，亦搜索於鄰裏親戚之家，益造新籍，甚為勞擾，數月罷之。時州縣之吏多非其人，土地之利不盡出，租稅減耗，賦役不均，上下相蒙，積習成敝。乃詔：“諸知州、通判具如何均平賦稅，招輯流亡，惠恤孤貧，窒塞奸幸，凡民間未便事，限一月附疾置以聞。 ”而比年多稼不登，富者操奇贏之資，貧者取倍稱之息，一或小稔，富家責償愈急，稅調未畢，資儲罄然。遂令州縣戒裏胥、鄉老察視，有取富民穀麥貲財，出息不得逾倍，未輸稅毋得先償私逋，違者罪之。

At the beginning of the Duangong era he personally plowed the sacred field to encourage farming. Yet in the metropolitan region the people suffered under heavy taxation. When brothers came of age they set up separate households, but the tax on their fields was aggregated onto one household, which then abandoned the land; the county each year removed the tax on abandoned land, whereupon the owners would hide in other lodgings and farm the land again under false names. When the emperor heard of this he considered reforming the abuse. It happened that Dou Bi, magistrate of Fengqiu, spoke of the matter, and the emperor bestowed on him the crimson fish purse and one hundred bolts of silk; promoted him to Righteous Middle Director and made him Registrar of Kaifeng Prefecture, charging him to investigate land rent in the metropolitan counties. Bi pursued harshness exclusively to win top ratings. Even people who had truly fled were hunted down among neighbors and kin, and new registers were constantly created, causing great distress. After several months the assignment was ended. At the time many prefectural and county officials were unfit for their posts. The land's full yield was not realized, rent and tax dwindled, corvée duties fell unevenly, and superiors and subordinates deceived one another until custom hardened into abuse. An edict was then issued: "All prefectural governors and transport-intendants shall report on how to equalize taxes and levies, gather wandering populations, aid orphans and the poor, block deceit and favoritism, and any other matter inconvenient to the people—all within one month, sent by express post. " Yet in recent years harvests had failed. The rich held speculative capital while the poor borrowed at double interest. After even a modest harvest the wealthy pressed repayment all the harder, and before tax levies were finished the poor had exhausted their savings. The court then ordered prefectures and counties to warn ward clerks and village elders to watch closely: interest taken on grain, wheat, goods, or wealth from wealthy households must not exceed double; private debts must not be repaid before taxes were paid—and violators were to be punished.

言者謂江北之民雜植諸穀，江南專種粳稻，雖土風各有所宜，至於參植以防水旱，亦古之製。於是詔江南、兩浙、荊湖、嶺南、福建諸州長吏，勸民益種諸穀，民乏粟、麥、黍、豆種者，於淮北州郡給之；江北諸州，亦令就水廣種粳稻，並免其租。淳化五年，宋、亳數州牛疫，死者過半，官借錢令就江、淮市牛。未至，屬時雨沾足，帝慮其耕稼失時，太子中允武允成獻踏犁，運以人力，即分命秘書丞、直史館陳堯叟等即其州依式製造給民。

Memorialists observed that north of the Yangtze the people planted various grains in mixture, while south of the Yangtze they planted chiefly polished rice. Though local custom had its proper forms, interplanting to guard against flood and drought was also an ancient practice. An edict was therefore issued to the chief officials of Jiangnan, the two Zhe circuits, Jing-Hu, Lingnan, and Fujian, urging the people to plant more kinds of grain. Those lacking seed for millet, wheat, panicled millet, or beans were to be supplied from prefectures north of the River; the prefectures north of the River were likewise ordered to plant polished rice widely along waterways, all exempt from rent. In the fifth year of Chunhua a cattle plague struck several prefectures including Song and Bo; more than half the cattle died, and the government lent money for the people to buy cattle along the Yangtze and Huai. Before the cattle arrived timely rains had soaked the fields, and the emperor feared the planting season would be missed. Righteous Middle Director Wu Yuncheng presented the tread-plow, powered by human labor, and the emperor immediately ordered Secretariat Director Chen Yaosou and others to each prefecture to manufacture them according to the model and distribute them to the people.

凡州縣曠土，許民請佃為永業，蠲三歲租，三歲外，輸三分之一。官吏勸民墾田，悉書於印紙，以俟旌賞。至道二年，太常博士、直史館陳靖上言：

On all idle land in prefectures and counties the people were permitted to apply for tenancy as permanent property, with three years' rent remitted and, after three years, one-third of the normal rent paid. Officials who urged the people to open fields recorded every case on stamped documents to await commendation. In the second year of Zhidao, Grandee of Ceremonies and Straight Historian Chen Jing submitted a memorial:

“先王之欲厚生民，莫先於積穀而務農，鹽鐵榷酤斯為末矣。按天下土田，除江淮、湖湘、兩浙、隴蜀、河東諸路地裏敻遠，雖加勸督，未遽獲利。今京畿周環二十三州，幅員數千里，地之墾者十才二三，稅之入者又十無五、六。復有匿裏舍而稱逃亡，棄耕農而事遊惰，賦額歲減，國用不充。

"The former kings, wishing to enrich the people, put nothing ahead of storing grain and devoting themselves to agriculture; monopoly over salt, iron, and wine was the inferior branch. Surveying the realm's land: except for the distant circuits of Jiang-Huai, Hunan, the two Zhe, Long-Shu, and Hedong, where the terrain lay far away, even with added encouragement profit was not quickly obtained. But the metropolitan circuit now encircled twenty-three prefectures across thousands of li: only two or three tenths of the land was under cultivation, and only five or six tenths of the expected tax revenue came in. Some hid in other lodgings while claiming to have fled; others abandoned farming for idleness. The tax quota shrank year by year, and state revenue fell short.

詔書累下，許民復業，蠲其租調，寬以歲時。然鄉縣擾之，每一戶歸業，則刺報所由。朝耕尺寸之田，暮入差徭之籍，追胥責問，繼踵而來，雖蒙蠲其常租，實無補於損瘠。況民之流徙，始由貧困，或避私債，或逃公稅。亦既亡遁，則鄉里檢其資財，至於室廬、什器、桑棗、材木，咸計其直，或鄉官用以輸稅，或債主取以償逋；生計蕩然，還無所詣，以茲浮蕩，絕意歸耕。

Edicts were issued repeatedly permitting the people to resume their occupations, remitting their rent and levies, and allowing years of grace. Yet districts and counties harassed them: each household that resumed its occupation was reported to the authorities. In the morning they might till a patch of field; by evening they were entered in corvée registers. Tax runners pursued them with demands in endless succession. Though the regular rent was remitted, it truly did nothing to relieve their destitution. Moreover, the people's wandering began in poverty—some fleeing private debt, others public taxes. Once they had fled, the village inspected their property—houses, utensils, mulberry trees, timber—all was appraised. Village officers might use it to pay taxes, or creditors might seize it to repay debts; their livelihood was utterly destroyed and they had nowhere to return. Thus adrift, they entirely gave up any thought of returning to the plow.

如授以閑曠之田，廣募遊惰，誘之耕墾，未計賦租，許令別置版圖，便宜從事；酌民力豐寡、農畝肥磽，均配督課，令其不倦。其逃民歸業，丁口授田，煩碎之事，並取大司農裁決。耕桑之外，令益樹雜木蔬果，孳畜羊犬雞豚。給授桑土，潛擬井田，營造室居，使立保伍；養生送死之具，慶吊問遺之資，並立條製。候至三五年間，生計成立，即計戶定征，量田輸稅。若民力不足，官借糴錢，或以市餱糧，或以營耕具。凡此給受，委於司農，比及秋成，乃令償直，依時價折納，以其成數關白戶部。”

If they were granted idle vacant fields, if the idle were widely recruited and enticed to plow and open land—before any tax was calculated, if they were permitted separate registration and allowed to act as circumstances required, if officials weighed the people's strength, rich or poor, and the fertility or barrenness of the fields, evenly assigning supervision so they would not be worn down, and if fleeing people resuming their occupations received fields according to household size, with all troublesome details referred to the Grand Minister of Agriculture for decision, and beyond plowing and mulberry they were ordered additionally to plant miscellaneous trees, fruits, and vegetables and to raise sheep, dogs, chickens, and pigs, then the people might truly be enriched. they should be granted mulberry land, the well-field system quietly taken as a model, dwellings built, and mutual-security groups of five households established; provisions for daily living and for funerals, and funds for congratulations, mourning visits, and gifts of condolence should all be governed by fixed regulations. after three to five years, once their livelihoods were secure, households would be assessed, levies fixed, and fields measured for tax payment. where the people lacked means, the government should lend money for grain, whether to buy provisions or to secure farming implements. all such grants would be handled by the Director of Agriculture; at harvest they would be repaid at current market rates, and the yield reported to the Revenue Bureau.

帝覽之喜，令靖條奏以聞。

The Emperor read the memorial with pleasure and ordered Chen Jing to set out its provisions in detail and report them.

靖又言：“逃民復業及浮客請佃者，委農官勘驗以給授田土，收附版籍，州縣未得議其差役；乏糧種、耕牛者，令司農以官錢給借。其田製為三品：以膏沃而無水旱之患者為上品；雖沃壤而有水旱之患、埆瘠而無水旱之慮者為中品；既埆瘠復患於水旱者為下品。上田人授百畝，中田百五十畝，下田二百畝，並五年後收其租，亦隻計百畝，十收其三。一家有三丁者，請加受田，如丁數五丁者從三丁之製，七丁者給五丁，十丁給七丁；至二十、三十丁者，以十丁為限。若寬鄉田多，即委農官裁度以賦之。其室廬、蔬韭及桑棗、榆柳種藝之地，每戶十丁者給百五十畝，七丁者百畝，五丁者七十畝，三丁者五十畝，不及三丁者三十畝。除桑功五年後計其租，餘悉蠲其課。”

Chen Jing further proposed: "Fugitives returning to their occupations and itinerant tenants seeking land should be assigned to agricultural officials for inspection and allotment of fields, enrolled on the household registers, and exempt from corvée assessments by prefectures and counties; those who lacked seed grain or draft oxen should receive loans of official funds from the Director of Agriculture. fields were to be classed in three grades: fertile, well-watered land free from flood or drought counted as upper grade; fertile land subject to flood or drought, or thin soil without such risk, counted as middle grade; land that was both poor and prone to flood or drought counted as lower grade. on upper-grade land each person received one hundred mu; on middle-grade land, one hundred fifty mu; on lower-grade land, two hundred mu. After five years rent would be collected, but only one hundred mu would be assessed, at a rate of three parts in ten. a household with three adult males could request additional allotments; households of five followed the rule for three; those of seven received the allotment for five; those of ten received that for seven; for households of twenty or thirty adult males, the allotment was capped at that for ten. where land was plentiful in sparsely settled districts, agricultural officials were to measure and assign fields as they saw fit. for homesteads, vegetable plots, and land for mulberry, jujube, elm, and willow, households of ten adult males received one hundred fifty mu; of seven, one hundred mu; of five, seventy mu; of three, fifty mu; and fewer than three, thirty mu. only mulberry dues would be assessed after five years; all other levies on such land would be remitted.

宰相呂端謂靖所立田製，多改舊法，又大費資用，以其狀付有司。詔鹽鐵使陳恕等共議，請如靖奏。乃以靖為京西勸農使，按行陳、許、蔡、潁、襄、鄧、唐、汝等州，勸民墾田，以大理寺丞皇甫選、光祿寺丞何亮副之。選、亮上言功難成，願罷其事。帝誌在勉農，猶詔靖經度。未幾，三司以費官錢數多，萬一水旱，恐致散失，事遂寢。

Chief Councilor Lü Duan said that Chen Jing's proposed field system altered too much of the old law and would cost far too much; the memorial was referred to the responsible agencies. The court ordered Salt and Iron Commissioner Chen Shu and others to deliberate jointly and recommended adopting Chen Jing's proposal. Chen Jing was then appointed Commissioner for Encouraging Agriculture in the Western Capital circuit and sent to inspect Chen, Xu, Cai, Ying, Xiang, Deng, Tang, Ru, and other prefectures to urge reclamation, assisted by Huangfu Xuan of the Court of Revision and He Liang of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. Huangfu Xuan and He Liang reported that the project could not succeed and asked that it be abandoned. The Emperor, determined to encourage farming, still ordered Chen Jing to continue planning the effort. Before long the Three Departments objected that too much official money was being spent and that, should flood or drought strike, the funds might be lost; the project was then abandoned.

真宗景德初，詔諸州不堪牧馬閑田，依職田例招主客戶多方種蒔，以沃瘠分三等輸課。河朔戎寇之後，耕具頗闕，牛多瘠死。二年，內出踏犁式，詔河北轉運使詢於民間，如可用，則官造給之；且令有司議市牛送河北。又以兵罷，民始務農創什器，遂權除生熟鐵度河之禁。是歲，命權三司使丁謂取戶稅條敕及臣民所陳田農利害，與鹽鐵判官張若穀、戶部判官王曾等參詳刪定，成《景德農田敕》五卷，三年正月上之。謂等又取唐開元中宇文融請置勸農判田，檢戶口、田土偽濫；且慮別置官煩擾，而諸州長吏除當勸農，乃請少卿、監為刺史、合門使以上知州者，並兼管內勸農事，及通判並兼勸農事，諸路轉運使、副兼本路勸農使。詔可。

Early in the Jingde era under Zhenzong, an edict directed every prefecture to recruit resident and tenant farmers to cultivate idle land unsuited for horse pasture, following the service-field precedent, with rent assessed in three grades according to soil fertility. After the Khitan raids in the Hebei region, farming implements were scarce and many draft oxen had died of starvation. In the second year the court issued a design for a tread-plow and ordered the Hebei transport commissioner to inquire among the people; if it proved useful, the government would manufacture and distribute it; and also ordered the relevant agencies to consider purchasing oxen and shipping them to Hebei. As warfare subsided and the people turned again to farming and making tools, the temporary ban on shipping raw and wrought iron across the Yellow River was lifted. That year Acting Commissioner of the Three Departments Ding Wei was ordered, together with Salt and Iron Vice Commissioner Zhang Ruogu, Revenue Vice Commissioner Wang Zeng, and others, to compile household-tax statutes and memorials on agricultural policy into the five-scroll 《Jingde Farmland Edict》, which was presented in the first month of the third year. Ding Wei and his colleagues also drew on Yuwen Rong's Kaiyuan proposal to appoint agriculture commissioners to inspect household registers and expose fraudulent land claims; fearing that new offices would only add harassment, they proposed instead that existing officials take on agricultural duties: Junior Chamberlains and Directors serving as prefects, Gate Commanders and higher ranks administering prefectures, vice-prefects, and circuit transport commissioners and their deputies should all concurrently serve as agriculture commissioners for their jurisdictions. The edict approved.

大中祥符四年，詔曰：“火田之禁，著在《禮經》，山林之間，合順時令。其或昆蟲未蟄，草木猶蕃，輒縱燎原，則傷生類。諸州縣人畬田，並如鄉土舊例，自餘焚燒野草，須十月後方得縱火。其行路野宿人，所在檢察，毋使延燔。 ”帝以江、淮、兩浙稍旱即水田不登，遣使就福建取占城稻三萬斛，分給三路為種，擇民田高仰者蒔之，蓋早稻也。內出種法，命轉運使揭榜示民。後又種於玉宸殿，帝與近臣同觀；畢刈，又遣內侍持於朝堂示百官。稻比中國者穗長而無芒，粒差小，不擇地而生。六年，免諸路農器之稅。明年，諸州牛疫，又詔民買賣耕牛勿算；繼令群牧司選醫牛古方，頒之天下。

In the fourth year of Dazhong Xiangfu an edict declared: "The ban on slash-and-burn cultivation is set forth in the 《Book of Rites》; in mountains and forests one must observe the seasons. If insects have not yet gone into dormancy and vegetation is still flourishing, yet one recklessly sets the hills ablaze, living things will be harmed. Slash-and-burn farming in every prefecture and county should follow local custom; all other burning of wild grass was permitted only after the tenth month. Travelers camping along the roads were to be inspected everywhere so that fires would not spread. "The Emperor, noting that in the Jiang-Huai and two Zhe regions even a slight drought caused paddy crops to fail, sent envoys to Fujian to obtain thirty thousand hu of Champa rice, distributed the seed among three circuits, and had it planted on the higher fields of the people—it was early-season rice. The court issued planting instructions and ordered transport commissioners to post them publicly for the people. Later the rice was planted again in the Jade Sovereign Hall, and the Emperor viewed it together with his close ministers; and after the harvest, palace attendants were sent to display the crop in the court hall for all officials to see. Compared with native strains, its ears were longer and awnless, the grains somewhat smaller, and it grew without regard to soil quality. In the sixth year taxes on farming implements were remitted throughout the circuits. The following year, when ox pestilence struck the prefectures, another edict exempted the people's trade in draft oxen from commercial tax; and the Directorate of Herds was then ordered to select ancient prescriptions for treating cattle and distribute them empire-wide.

天禧初，詔諸路自今候登熟方奏豐稔，或已奏豐稔而非時災沴者，即須上聞，違者重置其罪。先是，民訴水旱者，夏以四月，秋以七月，荊湖、淮南、江浙、川峽、廣南水田不得過期，過期者吏勿受；令、佐受訴，即分行檢視，白州遣官覆檢，三司定分數蠲稅；亦有朝旨特增免數及應輸者許其倚格，京畿則特遣官覆檢。太祖時，亦或遣官往外州檢視，不為常製；傷甚，有免覆檢者。至是，又以覆檢煩擾，止遣官就田所閱視，即定蠲數。時久罷畋遊，令開封府諭民，京城四面禁圍草城，許其耕牧。三年，詔民有孝弟力田、儲蓄歲計者，長吏倍存恤之。

Early in the Tianxi era an edict required every circuit to report a bountiful harvest only after crops had fully ripened; if a bountiful harvest had already been reported but untimely disaster then struck, immediate notice was required, with severe penalties for violation. Previously, when commoners reported flood or drought damage, summer claims were accepted through the fourth month and autumn claims through the seventh; in Jing-Hu, Huainan, Jiang-Zhe, Sichuan Gorges, and Guangnan, paddy-field claims could not be filed late, and clerks were forbidden to accept overdue petitions; magistrates and aides who received petitions immediately sent officers to inspect on site, reported to the prefecture for a follow-up inspection, and the Three Departments determined the proportion of tax to be remitted; sometimes the court specially increased the remission or allowed deferred payment according to quota; in the metropolitan region officials were specially dispatched for reinspection. Under Taizu officials were sometimes sent to outlying prefectures to inspect damage, but this was not a standing practice; where damage was especially severe, reinspection was sometimes waived. Now, because reinspection had become burdensome, officials were sent only to the fields themselves to assess damage and fix the remission on the spot. Hunting excursions had long been suspended; the Kaifeng prefecture was ordered to inform the people that within the capital's forbidden grass ramparts on all four sides they were permitted to farm and graze livestock. In the third year an edict directed that commoners noted for filial piety, fraternal duty, diligence in farming, and annual savings should receive doubled care from their magistrates.

初，朝議置勸農之名，然無職局。四年，始詔諸路提點刑獄朝臣為勸農使、使臣為副使，所至，取民籍視其差等，不如式者懲革之；勸恤農民，以時耕墾，招集逃散，檢括陷稅，凡農田事悉領焉。置局案，鑄印給之。凡奏舉親民之官，悉令條析勸農之績，以為殿最黜陟。

At first the court had adopted the title of agriculture commissioner, but no dedicated agency existed. In the fourth year an edict first appointed circuit judicial-intendant court officials as agriculture commissioners and commissioners as deputies; wherever they went they examined household registers and graded obligations, punishing and correcting any that fell short of the standard; they were to encourage and care for farmers, ensure timely cultivation, gather fugitives and the displaced, recover concealed taxes, and oversee all agricultural affairs. Bureaus were established for them and official seals cast and issued. Whenever officials who governed the people were recommended for promotion, they were required to set forth their record in encouraging agriculture as the basis for performance ranking and appointment or dismissal.

自景德以來，四方無事，百姓康樂，戶口蕃庶，田野日辟。仁宗繼之，益務約己愛人。即位之初，下詔曰：“今宿麥既登，秋種向茂，其令州縣諭民，務謹蓋藏，無或妄費。 ”上書者言賦役未均，田製不立，因詔限田：公卿以下毋過三十頃，牙前將吏應復役者毋過十五頃，止一州之內，過是者論如違製律，以田賞告者。既而三司言：限田一州，而卜葬者牽於陰陽之說，至不敢舉事。又聽數外置墓田五頃。而任事者終以限田不便，未幾即廢。

From the Jingde era onward the realm was at peace, the people prosperous, the population growing, and farmland steadily expanding. Renzong succeeded him and devoted himself still more to personal restraint and care for the people. Early in his reign he issued an edict: "Winter wheat has now been harvested and autumn crops are thriving; let prefectures and counties instruct the people to store their grain carefully and spend nothing wastefully. "Memorialists complained that tax and corvée burdens were unequal and that no land system had been established. The court therefore decreed field limits: officials from grand councilors down might hold no more than thirty qing; yamen officers liable for corvée, no more than fifteen qing, all within a single prefecture. Holdings beyond these limits were to be prosecuted under the statute on violating regulations, with the informer's reward paid in land. Soon afterward the Three Departments reported that because landholdings were limited to one prefecture, families planning burials, constrained by geomantic doctrine, were afraid even to proceed with funerals. They were therefore allowed five additional qing beyond the quota for burial land. But those charged with enforcement ultimately found the land limits impracticable, and before long the measure was abandoned.

時又禁近臣置別業京師及寺觀毋得市田。初，真宗崩，內遣中人持金賜玉泉山僧寺市田，言為先帝植福，後毋以為例。繇是寺觀稍益市田。明道二年，殿中侍御史段少連言：“頃歲中人至漣水軍，稱詔市民田給僧寺，非舊制。 ”詔還民田，收其直入官。後承平浸久，勢官富姓，占田無限，兼並冒偽，習以成俗，重禁莫能止焉。

At the same time close ministers were forbidden to establish separate estates in the capital, and temples and monasteries were forbidden to purchase farmland. When Zhenzong died, the palace had first sent eunuchs with gold for the Jade Spring Mountain monastery to purchase land, saying it was to plant merit for the late emperor, but later edicts declared this should not become a precedent. Nevertheless temples and monasteries gradually expanded their land purchases. In the second year of Mingdao, Palace Attendant Censor Duan Shaolian memorialized: "In recent years eunuchs have gone to Lianshui Army, claiming imperial orders to buy commoners' land for monasteries, which is not the established practice. "An edict ordered the land returned to the people and the purchase price recovered for the state. As peace endured, powerful officials and wealthy families came to hold land without limit, through merger and fraudulent claims, until the practice hardened into custom that even stern prohibitions could not halt.

帝敦本務農，屢詔勸劭，觀稼於郊，歲一再出；又躬耕籍田，以先天下。景祐初，患百姓多去農為兵，詔大臣條上兵農得失，議更其法。遣尚書職方員外郎沈厚載出懷、衛、磁、相、邢、洺、鎮、趙等州，教民種水田。京東轉運司亦言：“濟、兗間多閑田，而青州兵馬都監郝仁禹知田事，請命規度水利，募民耕墾。 ”從之。是秋，詔曰：“仍歲饑歉，民多失職。今秋稼甫登，方事斂獲，州縣毋或追擾，以妨農時。刑獄須證逮者速決之。”

The Emperor honored the agricultural foundation of the state, issued repeated edicts of encouragement, and went out to the suburbs to inspect the crops once or twice each year; he also personally plowed the ceremonial field to set an example for the realm. Early in the Jingyou era, troubled that too many commoners were leaving farming for military service, he ordered senior ministers to submit detailed assessments of the army and agriculture systems and to propose reforms. He dispatched Shen Houzai of the Ministry of Works to Huai, Wei, Ci, Xiang, Xing, Ming, Zhen, Zhao, and other prefectures to teach the people to cultivate paddy fields. The Eastern Capital transport commission also reported: "Between Ji and Yan there is much idle land, and Qingzhou Military Horse Supervisor Hao Renyu is skilled in agriculture; we ask that he be appointed to plan irrigation works and recruit farmers for reclamation. "Approved. That autumn an edict declared: "Years of famine have left many people without livelihood. Now that the autumn harvest has just begun and gathering is under way, prefectures and counties must not harass the people and thereby obstruct the farming season. Criminal cases requiring witnesses or detention should be decided quickly.

帝每以水旱為憂，寶元初，詔諸州旬上雨雪，著為令。慶曆三年，詔民犯法可矜者別為贖令，鄉民以穀麥，市人以錢帛。謂民重穀帛，免刑罰，則農桑自勸，然卒不果行。參知政事範仲淹言：“古者三公兼六卿之職，唐命相判尚書六曹，或兼諸道鹽鐵、轉運使。請於職事中擇其要者，以輔臣兼領。 ”於是以賈昌朝領農田，未及施為而仲淹罷，事遂止。皇祐中，於苑中作寶岐殿，每歲召輔臣觀刈穀麥，自是罕復出郊矣。

The Emperor constantly worried over flood and drought; early in the Baoyuan era an edict required every prefecture to report rainfall and snowfall every ten days, and this was made a standing regulation. In the third year of Qingli an edict provided that offenders deserving compassion might redeem their penalties under a separate statute: villagers with grain or wheat, townspeople with cash or cloth. The reasoning was that because the people valued grain and cloth, exempting them from corporal punishment would encourage farming and sericulture, but in the end the measure was never implemented. Participating Councilor Fan Zhongyan said: "In antiquity the Three Dukes held the duties of the Six Ministers; in Tang, chancellors were assigned to oversee the Six Ministries or concurrently served as circuit salt, iron, or transport commissioners. I ask that the most important of these duties be selected and assigned to senior ministers as concurrent responsibilities. "Jia Changchao was accordingly placed in charge of agriculture, but before anything could be done Fan Zhongyan was dismissed and the plan came to nothing. During the Huangyou era the Precious Mound Hall was built within the imperial park, and each year senior ministers were summoned to watch the harvest of grain and wheat; thereafter the Emperor rarely went out to the suburbs.

帝聞天下廢田尚多，民罕土著，或棄田流徙為閑民。天聖初，詔民流積十年者，其田聽人耕，三年而後收賦，減舊額之半；後又詔流民能自復者，賦亦如之。既而又與流民限，百日復業，蠲賦役，五年減舊賦十之八；期盡不至，聽他人得耕。至是，每下赦令，輒以招輯流亡、募人耕墾為言。民被災而流者，又復其蠲復，緩其期招之。詔諸州長吏、令、佐能勸民修陂池、溝洫之久廢者，及墾辟荒田、增稅二十萬已上，議賞；監司能督責部吏經畫，賞亦如之。

The Emperor learned that much land throughout the realm still lay fallow, that few commoners were permanently settled, and that some abandoned their fields and drifted about as idlers. Early in the Tiansheng era an edict provided that where people had been absent for ten years, others might cultivate their land; after three years tax would be collected at half the former rate; a later edict extended the same tax relief to fugitives who returned on their own. still later a deadline was imposed: fugitives who resumed their occupations within a hundred days were exempted from levies and corvée and enjoyed an eighty-percent reduction of the old tax for five years; if they failed to return when the term expired, others were permitted to cultivate the land. By this time every amnesty edict routinely called for gathering fugitives and recruiting people to open new land. For commoners who fled because of disaster, remissions were renewed and deadlines extended to encourage their return. An edict promised rewards for prefectural administrators, magistrates, and aides who urged the people to restore long-abandoned dikes, ponds, and canals, or who opened wasteland and increased tax receipts by two hundred thousand cash or more; and supervisory commissioners who oversaw and directed their subordinates in such projects were to receive comparable rewards.

久之，天下生齒益蕃，辟田益廣。獨京西唐、鄧間尚多曠土，入草莽者十八、九，或請徙戶實之，或議置屯田，或欲遂廢唐州為縣。嘉祐中，唐守趙尚寬言土曠可辟，民希可招，而州不可廢。得漢邵信臣故陂渠遺跡而修復之，假牛犁、種食以誘耕者，勸課勞來。歲餘，流民自歸及淮南、湖北之民至者二十餘戶；引水溉田幾數萬頃，變磽瘠為膏腴。監司上其狀，三司使包拯亦以為言，遂留再任。治平中，歲滿當去。英宗嘉其勤，且倚以興輯，特進一官，賜錢二十萬，復留再任。時患守令數易，詔察其有實課者增秩再任，而尚寬應詔為天下倡。後太守高賦繼之，亦以能勸課被獎，留再任。

In time the population grew ever larger and cultivated land steadily expanded throughout the realm. Only in the western capital circuit between Tang and Deng did much land still lie vacant; eight or nine tenths of it had reverted to scrub and bramble. Some officials proposed relocating households to populate it, others urged establishing army farm colonies, and still others wanted to abolish Tang Prefecture entirely and reduce it to a county. During the Jiayou era, Zhao Shangkuan, prefect of Tang, argued that the vacant soil could be reclaimed, scattered people could be drawn in, and the prefecture ought not to be abolished. He located the remains of the reservoir and canal works of the Han official Shao Xinchen and restored them, lending oxen, plows, and seed grain to draw farmers back, while both urging the field tax and welcoming new settlers. After little more than a year, refugees were returning on their own, and settlers from Huainan and Hubei added more than twenty households; He led water to irrigate nearly tens of thousands of mu of fields, turning thin, stony ground into rich farmland. The circuit inspectors memorialized his results, and the Fiscal Commissioner Bao Zheng spoke in his favor as well, so the court kept him in office for a second term. During Zhiping his term expired and he was due to leave office. Emperor Ying commended his diligence and, counting on him to restore the region, specially promoted him one rank, granted him two hundred thousand cash, and again kept him in office for another term. The court was then concerned that local administrators changed too frequently; an edict ordered that officials with proven administrative records be promoted and retained, and Shangkuan answered the summons and became a model for the entire realm. Later Grand Prefect Gao Fu succeeded him; he too was rewarded for effective promotion of agriculture and was kept on for a second term.

天下墾田：景德中，丁謂著《會計錄》雲，總得一百八十六萬餘頃。以是歲七百二十二萬餘戶計之，是四戶耕田一頃，繇是而知天下隱田多矣。又川峽、廣南之田，頃畝不備，第以五賦約之。至天聖中，國史則云：開寶末，墾田二百九十五萬二千三百二十頃六十畝；至道二年，三百一十二萬五千二百五十一頃二十五畝；天禧五年，五百二十四萬七千五百八十四頃三十二畝。而開寶之數乃倍於景德，則謂之所錄，固未得其實。皇祐、治平，三司皆有《會計錄》，而皇祐中墾田二百二十八萬餘頃，治平中四百四十萬餘頃，其間相去不及二十年，而墾田之數增倍。以治平數視天禧則猶不及，而敘《治平錄》者以謂此特計其賦租以知頃畝之數，而賦租所不如者十居其七。率而計之，則天下墾田無慮三千餘萬頃。是時，累朝相承，重於擾民，未嚐窮按，故莫得其實，而廢田見於籍者猶四十八萬頃。

Nationwide cultivated land: in the Jingde era, Ding Wei recorded in the 《Accounting Records》 a total of a little more than 1.86 million qing. Counted against that year's more than 7.22 million households, this meant four households per qing of farmland--evidence of how much land throughout the realm went unreported. In Sichuan, the gorge regions, and Guangnan moreover, acreage figures were incomplete and fields were reckoned only by rough five-fold tax equivalents. By Tiansheng the National History stated: at the end of Kaibao, cultivated land stood at 2,953,232 qing and 60 mu; in the second year of Zhidao, 3,125,251 qing and 25 mu; and in the fifth year of Tianxi, 5,247,584 qing and 32 mu. Yet the Kaibao tally was double the Jingde figure, so what passed for an official record clearly did not reflect reality. In Huangyou and Zhiping the Fiscal Commission likewise kept the 《Accounting Records》; Huangyou reported a little more than 2.28 million qing of cultivated land and Zhiping a little more than 4.4 million--less than twenty years apart, yet the recorded acreage had doubled. Compared with Tianxi, the Zhiping figure still fell short; compilers of the 《Zhiping Record》 explained that it counted only taxed acreage, while seven tenths of cultivated land escaped the tax rolls. Extrapolated, nationwide cultivated land would be on the order of more than 30 million qing. Successive reigns had been reluctant to disturb the people and had never conducted a thorough survey, so the true total remained unknown; even so, abandoned fields still listed in the registers amounted to 480,000 qing.

治平四年，詔曰：“歲比不登，今春時雨，農民桑蠶、穀麥，眾作勤勞，一歲之功，並在此時。其委安撫、轉運司敕戒州縣吏，省事息民，無奪其時。 ”“諸路逃田三十年者除其稅十四，四十年以上十五，五十年以上六分，百年以上七分；佃及十年輸五分，二十年輸七分，著為令。”

In the fourth year of Zhiping an edict declared: "Harvests have failed year after year; now timely spring rains have come. Sericulture, grain, and wheat demand the farmers' utmost labor--the whole year's work turns on this season. The Pacification and Transport commissioners were to admonish prefectural and county officials to lighten their burdens and avoid seizing the farmers' season. "Throughout the circuits, on abandoned land, tax reductions were set: fourteen parts remitted after thirty years; after forty years, fifteen parts; after fifty years, six tenths; after a hundred years, seven tenths; for tenants who had cultivated land ten years, tax was set at five tenths; at twenty years, seven tenths--enacted as permanent statute.

神宗熙寧元年，襄州宜城令朱紘復修水渠，溉田六千頃，詔遷一官。權京西轉運使謝景溫言：“在法，請田戶五年內科役皆免。貶汝州四縣客戶，不一二年便為舊戶糾抉，與之同役，因此即又逃竄，田土荒萊。欲乞置墾田務，差官專領，籍四縣荒田，召人請射。更不以其人隸屬諸縣版籍，須五年乃撥附，則五年內自無差科。如招及千戶以上者，優獎。 ”詔不置務，餘從所請。

In the first year of Shenzong's Xining reign, Zhu Hong, magistrate of Yicheng in Xiang Prefecture, restored the irrigation channel and watered six thousand qing of fields; the court promoted him one rank. Acting Transport Commissioner for the western capital circuit Xie Jingwen memorialized: "Under law, tenants who petitioned for fields are exempt from all corvee levies for five years. In the four counties of Run Prefecture, newcomers were within a year or two seized by established households for mutual corvee imposition and subjected to the same labor obligations, whereupon they fled again and the land reverted to waste. He asked to establish a reclamation bureau with dedicated officials, register all abandoned land in the four counties, and invite people to petition for allotments. Tenant households would not be entered on county registers until after five years, so no levies or corvee would fall on them during that period. Recruiting a thousand households or more would earn special rewards. The court declined to create the bureau but approved the rest of his proposal.

明年，分遣諸路常平官，使專領農田水利。吏民能知土地種植之法，陂塘、圩垾、堤堰、溝洫利害者，皆得自言；行之有效，隨功利大小酬賞。民占荒逃田若歸業者，責相保任，逃稅者保任為輸之。已行新法縣分，田土頃畝、川港陂塘之類，令、佐受代，具墾辟開修之數授諸代者，令照籍有實乃代。

The following year the court dispatched Ever-Normal Granary agents on each circuit to take charge of farming and irrigation. Officials and commoners who understood crop methods or the advantages and drawbacks of reservoirs, polders, dikes, and canals could all submit proposals; successful projects would be rewarded in proportion to their benefit. Those who reclaimed abandoned land or resumed farming had to provide mutual guarantees, and guarantors were liable for any tax evasion. In counties under the new laws, outgoing magistrates and assistants had to transfer tallies of reclaimed acreage and of streams, harbors, and reservoirs to their successors, who could take office only after verifying the records.

中書議勸民栽桑。帝曰：“農桑，衣食之本。民不敢自力者，正以州縣約以為貲，升其戶等耳。宜申條禁。 ”於是司農寺諸立法，先行之開封，視可行，頒於天下。民種桑柘毋得增賦。安肅廣信順安軍、保州，令民即其地植桑榆或所宜木，因可限閡戎馬。官計其活茂多寡，得差減在戶租數；活不及數者罰，責之補種。

The Secretariat debated measures to encourage mulberry planting. The Emperor said: "Farming and sericulture are the foundation of clothing and food. The people dare not plant more because prefectures and counties count it as wealth and raise their household grades accordingly. The prohibitions should be reiterated clearly. Thereupon the Directorate of Agriculture drafted regulations, piloted them in Kaifeng, and when they proved workable issued them nationwide. Planting mulberry and paper-mulberry would not increase a household's tax assessment. In Ansu, Guangxin, Shun'an Army, and Bao Prefecture, people were ordered to plant mulberry, elm, or locally suitable trees to obstruct enemy cavalry. Officials tallied surviving growth and granted proportional rent reductions; those falling short were fined and ordered to replant.

興修水利田，起熙寧三年至九年，府界及諸路凡一萬七百九十三處，為田三十六萬一千一百七十八頃有奇。神宗元豐元年，詔開廢田，興水利，民力不能給役者，貸以常平錢穀，京西南路流民買耕牛者免征。五年，都水使者範三淵奏：“自大名抵乾寧，跨十五州，河徙地凡七千頃，乞募人耕種。 ”從之。

Waterworks carried out from the third through the ninth year of Xining reached 10,793 projects in the capital district and on the circuits, irrigating 361,178 qing and a fraction of farmland. In Shenzong's first Yuanfeng year an edict promoted opening waste land and building irrigation; where peasants could not bear corvee, Ever-Normal funds and grain were lent, and on the southwestern capital circuit refugees buying draft oxen were exempted from tax. In the fifth year Director of Waterways Fan Sanyuan reported: "From Daming to Qianning, across fifteen prefectures, river shifts had left some seven thousand qing of land; I ask permission to recruit cultivators. The request was approved.

哲宗即位，宣仁太后臨朝，首起司馬光為門下侍郎，委之以政。詔天下臣民皆得以封事言民間疾苦。光抗疏曰：“四民之中，惟農最苦，寒耕熱耘，沾體塗足，戴日而作，戴星而息；蠶婦治繭、績麻、紡緯，縷縷而積之，寸寸而成之，其勤極矣。而又水旱、霜雹、蝗蜮間為之災，幸而收成，公私之債，交爭互奪。穀未離場，帛未下機，已非己有，所食者糠乞而不足，所衣者綈褐而不完。直以世服田畝，不知舍此之外有何可生之路耳。而況聚斂之臣，於租稅之外，巧取百端，以邀功賞。青苗則強散重斂，給陳納新；免役則刻剝窮民，收養浮食；保甲則勞於非業之作；保馬則困於無益之費，可不念哉！今者浚發德音，使畎畝之民得上封事。雖其言辭鄙雜，皆身受實患，直貢其誠，不可忽也。”

When Emperor Zhezong ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Xuanren regented and first recalled Sima Guang as Vice Director of the Secretariat, entrusting him with affairs of state. An edict allowed officials and commoners throughout the realm to submit sealed memorials describing popular hardships. Guang submitted a forthright memorial: "Of the four orders of society, farmers suffer most--plowing in cold and hoeing in heat, bodies drenched and feet mired, laboring from sunup and resting only after the stars appear; women tend cocoons, hemp, and weaving, thread by thread and inch by inch--their labor is beyond measure. Then flood, drought, frost, hail, and locusts strike in turn; even when there is a harvest, public and private creditors seize what they can. Before grain leaves the threshing floor or silk leaves the loom, it is no longer theirs; they eat chaff and still go hungry, they wear coarse cloth and still go threadbare. They know only the plow and have no other way to live. Meanwhile revenue officials, beyond rent and tax, contrive a hundred exactions to win merit and rewards. The Green Sprouts policy forced heavy disbursements and collected repayment in fresh grain; the Service Exemption system gouged the poor while enrolling idlers; Baojia conscription diverted labor to non-farming work; and the Horse Breeding policy burdened them with useless expense--can this be ignored? Now Your Majesty has issued a benevolent edict, allowing farmers to submit sealed memorials. Though their language is rough, they speak from real suffering and offer honest testimony that must not be dismissed.

初，熙寧六年，立法勸民栽桑，有不趨令，則仿屋粟、裏布為之罰。然長民之吏不能究宣德意，民以為病。至是，楚丘民胡昌等言其不便，詔罷之，且蠲所負罰金。興平縣抑民田為牧地，民亦自言，詔悉還之。元祐四年，詔：“瀕河州縣，積水冒田。在任官能為民經畫疏導溝畎，退出良田自百頃至千頃，第賞。

In the sixth year of Xining a law had urged mulberry planting, fining those who lagged on the model of house-grain and lane-cloth levies. Yet local administrators failed to implement the court's intent, and the people found the policy burdensome. Then Hu Chang of Chuqiu and others protested its hardships; the court abolished the policy and remitted outstanding fines. Xingping County had seized farmland for pasture; when the people appealed, an edict ordered the land fully restored. In the fourth year of Yuanyou an edict declared: "Along the Yellow River, standing water was drowning fields. Officials who planned drainage and restored good fields in amounts from one hundred to one thousand qing would be rewarded by rank.

崇寧中，廣東南路轉運判官王覺，以開辟荒田幾及萬頃，詔遷一官。其後，知州、部使者以能課民種桑棗者，率優其第秩焉。政和六年，立管幹圩岸、圍岸官法，在官三年，無隳損堙塞者賞之。京畿提點刑獄王本言：“前任提舉常平，根括諸縣天荒瘠鹵地一萬二千餘頃入稻田務，已佃者五千三百餘頃，尚慮令、佐不肯究心。 ”詔比開墾堿地格推賞。平江府興修圍田二千餘頃，令、佐而下以差減磨勘年。

During Chongning, Wang Jue, transport intendant for Guangdong and southern Guangnan, was promoted one rank for reclaiming nearly ten thousand qing of waste land. Thereafter prefects and circuit commissioners who effectively promoted mulberry and jujube planting were routinely advanced in rank. In the sixth year of Zhenghe regulations were set for officials in charge of polder and ring dikes; after three years without collapse, damage, or silting they were rewarded. Wang Ben, judicial intendant for the capital region, reported: "As Ever-Normal intendant I had inventoried more than twelve thousand qing of abandoned barren and saline land in the counties for the rice-field office; more than five thousand three hundred qing were already tenanted, yet I still feared magistrates would not press the work. The court ordered rewards under the standard for reclaiming saline-alkali land. Pingjiang Prefecture developed more than two thousand qing of ring dikes; magistrates and subordinates received reductions in merit-review years by rank.

八年，權淮南、江、浙、荊湖製置發運使任諒奏：“高郵軍有逃田四百四十六頃，楚州九百七十四頃，泰州五百七十二頃，平江府四百九十七頃，以六路計之，何可勝數。欲諸縣專選官按籍根括。 ”詔逃田可去委縣丞，無丞處委他官，餘並從之。

In the eighth year Acting Commissioner for Transport and Supply Ren Liang reported: "Gaoyou Army has 446 qing of abandoned land, Chuzhou 974, Taizhou 572, Pingjiang 497; across the six circuits the total is incalculable. I ask that each county appoint a dedicated officer to audit the registers. The court assigned abandoned land to assistant magistrates, or to other officials where no assistant existed, and approved the remainder of his plan.

宣和二年，臣僚上言：“監司、守令官帶勸農，莫副上意，欲立四證驗之：按田萊荒治之跡，較戶產登降之籍，驗米穀貴賤之價，考租賦盈虧之數。四證具，則其實著矣。 ”命中書審定取旨。五年，詔：“江東轉運司根括到逃田一百六十頃一十六畝，兩浙根括到四百五十六頃，召人出租，專充今年增屯戍兵衣糧。 ”初，政和中，品官限田，一品百頃，以差降殺，至九品為十畝；限外之數，並同編戶差科。七年，又詔：“內外宮觀舍置田，在京不得過五十頃，在外不得過三十頃，不免科差、徭役、支移。雖奉御筆，許執奏不行。”

In the second year of Xuanhe a courtier memorialized: "Circuit commissioners, prefects, and magistrates hold the charge of promoting agriculture yet fall short of the throne's intent; I propose four proofs: traces of reclaiming waste land, household registers showing rising or falling yields, market prices of grain, and records of rent surplus or deficit. When all four proofs align, performance will be plain. The Secretariat was ordered to deliberate and report for imperial decision. In the fifth year an edict stated: "Jiangdong Transport inventoried 160 qing and 16 mu of abandoned land; the two Zhe circuits 456 qing; tenants were sought, with rents devoted solely to added garrison clothing and grain this year. Initially, during Zhenghe, field limits were set for ranked officials: first rank one hundred qing, decreasing by grade to ten mu for the ninth rank; holdings above the limit were taxed like ordinary households. In the seventh year another edict capped endowment fields for palace and temple establishments at fifty qing in the capital and thirty outside, without exemption from levies, corvee, or transport surcharges. Even imperial brush edicts could be memorialized against and refused.

建炎元年五月，高宗即位，命有司招誘農民，歸業者振貸之，蠲欠租，免耕牛稅。三年，廣州州學教授林勳獻《本政書》十三篇，大略謂：“國朝兵農之政，大抵因唐末之故。今農貧而多失職，兵驕而不可用，是以饑民竄卒，類為盜賊。宜仿古井田之製，使民一夫占田五十畝，其羨田之家毋得市田；其無田與遊惰末作者，皆使為隸農，以耕田之羨者。雜紐錢穀，以為什一之稅。本朝二稅之數，視唐增至七倍。今本政之製，每十六夫為一井，提封百里，為三千四百井，率稅米五萬一千斛，錢萬二千緡。每井賦二兵一馬，率為兵六千八百人，馬三千四百匹。〈（此方百里之縣所出賦稅之數。）〉歲取五之一以為上番之額，以給征役；無事則又分為四番，以直官府，以給守衛。是民凡三十五年，而役始一遍也。悉上則歲食米萬九千餘斛，錢三千六百餘緡，無事則減四分之三，皆以一同之租稅供之。匹婦之貢，絹三尺，綿一兩，百里之縣，歲收絹四千餘匹，綿三千四百斤；非蠶鄉則布六尺，麻二兩，所收視綿絹倍之。行之十年，則民之口算，官之酒酤，與凡茶、鹽、香、礬之榷，皆可弛以予民。 ”其說甚備。尋以勳為桂州節度掌書記。

In the fifth month of the first Jianyan year, when Gaozong took the throne, he ordered officials to entice farmers back; returnees received relief loans, rent arrears were remitted, and plow-ox tax was waived. In the third year Lin Xun, professor at the Guangzhou prefectural school, submitted thirteen chapters of the 《Basic Policies》, arguing in outline that "the dynasty's civil-military policy largely followed late Tang conditions. Farmers are now poor and many lack livelihood; soldiers are insubordinate and unusable; hungry peasants and deserters alike turn to banditry. He proposed reviving the well-field model, allotting fifty mu per adult male; households with surplus land must not buy more; the landless and idle would become dependent farmers working surplus holdings. Miscellaneous bolted payments in money and grain would constitute the tithe. The dynasty's two-tax burden is seven times that of Tang. Under his system, sixteen adult males would form one well; within a hundred-li demesne would be 3,400 wells, yielding 51,000 hu of rice and twelve thousand strings of cash in tax. Each well would support two soldiers and one horse in tax, totaling 6,800 soldiers and 3,400 horses. (Tax yields of a hundred-li county under this scheme.) — end of section note.〉 One-fifth of the levy each year would fund the upper rotation for campaigns; in peacetime it would split into four rotations to staff offices and guards. The people would thus serve one full cycle only once every thirty-five years. At full levy, annual consumption would exceed 19,000 hu of rice and 3,600 strings of cash; in peacetime three-fourths would be cut, all from one uniform land tax. Each wife would owe three chi of silk and one liang of cotton; a hundred-li county would gather more than 4,000 bolts of silk and 3,400 jin of cotton yearly; non-sericulture districts would owe six chi of cloth and two liang of hemp, with collections twice the silk and cotton totals. After ten years, poll taxes, wine monopolies, and monopolies on tea, salt, incense, and alum could all be lifted for the people. Closing quotation mark. His argument was remarkably thorough. Lin Xun was soon made secretary on the Guizhou military commission staff.

建炎以來，內外用兵，所在多逃絕之田。紹興二年四月，詔兩浙路收買牛具，貸淮東人戶。七月，詔：知興國軍王、知永興縣陳升率先奉詔誘民墾田，各增一秩。三年九月，戶部言：“百姓棄產，已詔二年外許人請射，十年內雖已請射及充職田者，並聽歸業。孤幼及親屬應得財產者，守令驗實給還，冒占者論如律。州縣奉行不虔，監司按劾。 ”從之。〈（先是，臣僚言：“近詔州縣拘籍被虜百姓稅賦，而苛酷之吏不考其實，其間有父母被虜兒女存者，有中道脫者，有全家被虜而親屬偶歸者，一概籍沒，人情皇皇。 ”故有是命。）〉十月，募佃江東、西閑田，三等定租：上田畝輸米一斗五升，中田一斗，下田七升。四年，貸廬州民錢萬緡，以買耕牛。

Since Jianyan, war at home and abroad had left many fields abandoned or forfeited. In the fourth month of Shaoxing 2, an edict had the Two Zhe circuits buy oxen and tools and lend them to eastern Huai households. In the seventh month an edict promoted Wang, prefect of Xingguo Army, and Chen Sheng, magistrate of Yongxing County, one rank each for leading the effort to entice reclamation. In the ninth month of year 3 the Ministry of Revenue said: "Abandoned holdings may after two years be applied for by others; within ten years, even fields already applied for or assigned as official duty land must allow return to the original holders. Orphans and relatives with property claims were to have prefects and magistrates verify and restore holdings; unlawful seizure would be prosecuted. Prefectures and counties that failed to enforce this diligently would face investigation by circuit commissioners. Closing quotation mark. The court approved. (Earlier officials had said: "A recent edict made prefectures and counties register taxes of people captured by the enemy, but harsh clerks failed to verify facts. Some had parents captured while children remained; some escaped en route; some had whole families captured while a relative later returned — yet all were registered and confiscated alike, stirring public alarm. Closing quotation mark. Hence this order.) — end of section note.〉 In the tenth month the court recruited tenants for idle Jiang fields, with three rent grades: top fields one dou five sheng per mu, middle one dou, lower seven sheng. In year 4 the court lent Luzhou ten thousand strings of cash to buy plow oxen.

五年五月，立《守令墾田殿最格》，〈（殘破州縣墾田增及一分，郡守升三季名次，增及九分，遷一官；虧及一分，降三季名次，虧及九分，鐫一官。縣令差減之。增虧各及十分者，取旨賞罰。其後以兩淮、荊湖等路民稍復業，而曠土尚多，戶部復立格上之：每州增墾田千頃，縣半之，守宰各進一秩；州虧五百頃，縣虧五之一，皆展磨勘年。詔頒之諸路。增，謂荒田開墾者；虧，謂熟田不因災傷而致荒者。）〉又令縣具歸業民數及墾田多寡，月上之州，州季上轉運，轉運歲上戶部，戶部置籍以考之。七月，都督行府言：“潭、鼎、嶽、澧、荊南歸業之民，其田已佃者，以附近閑田與之，免三年租稅；無產願受閑田者，亦與之。 ”上諭輔臣曰：“淮北之民繈負而至，亦可給田，以廣招徠之意。”

In the fifth month of year 5 the court established the 《Standings for Ranking Prefects and Magistrates by Reclaimed Farmland》, (In devastated prefectures and counties, a one-tenth increase in reclaimed land advanced the prefect three places in quarterly ranking; a nine-tenth increase earned a one-rank promotion; a one-tenth shortfall dropped him three places; a nine-tenth shortfall cost one rank. Magistrates were judged on a reduced scale. Full ten-tenth increase or shortfall went to the throne for reward or punishment. Later, as people on the Two Huai and Jinghu circuits gradually returned while land still lay idle, the ministry proposed: each prefecture gaining one thousand qing of reclaimed land, half that for counties, with prefect and magistrate each promoted one rank; a prefecture short five hundred qing or a county one-fifth of that had merit review extended. An edict promulgated this on all circuits. "Increase" meant wasteland newly opened; "shortfall" meant fertile fields abandoned without disaster or injury.) — end of section note.〉 Counties were to report monthly returnee numbers and reclaimed acreage to prefectures; prefectures quarterly to transport commissioners; commissioners yearly to the ministry, which kept assessment registers. In the seventh month the supreme commandery said: "Returnees in Tan, Ding, Yue, Li, and Jingnan whose former fields are tenanted should receive nearby idle land with three years' rent and tax waived; those without holdings who want idle fields should also receive them. The emperor told his ministers: "Refugees from north of the Huai are arriving with infants on their backs; they too should receive fields, to broaden recruitment.

六年，減江東諸路逃田稅額。知平江府章誼言：“民所甚苦者，催科無法，稅役不均。強宗巨室阡陌相望，而多無稅之田，使下戶為之破產。乞委通判一員均平賦役。 ”九年，宗正少卿方庭實言：“中原士民奔逃南州，十有四年，出違十年之限及流徙僻遠卒未能歸者，望詔有司別立限年。 ”戶部議：“自復降赦日為始，再期五年，如期滿無理認者，見佃人依舊承佃。中原士民流寓東南，往往有墳墓，或官拘籍，或民冒占，便行給還。 ”從之。十一年，復買牛貸淮南農戶。

In year 6 tax quotas on abandoned fields in Jiangdong circuits were reduced. Pingjiang prefect Zhang Yi said: "What most afflicts the people is lawless collection and uneven tax and corvee. Powerful clans own vast fields yet pay little tax, driving humble households to ruin. I ask that one vice-prefect be assigned to equalize levies and corvee. In year 9 Imperial Clan vice director Fang Tingshi said: "Central Plains refugees have been in the south fourteen years; some exceed the ten-year limit or are too remote to return. I hope offices will set a separate limit. The ministry proposed: "From the latest amnesty, after five more years, if no claim is made, the current tenant may continue. Central Plains refugees in the southeast often have graves registered by officials or seized by others; these should be returned immediately. The court approved. In year 11 oxen were again bought and lent to Huainan farmers.

十二年，左司員外郎李椿年言經界不正十害，且言：“平江歲入昔七十萬有奇，今按籍雖三十九萬斛，然實入才二十萬耳。詢之土人，皆欺隱也。望考按核實，自平江始，然後施之天下，則經界正而仁政行矣。 ”上謂宰執曰：“椿年之論，頗有條理。 ”秦檜亦言其說簡易可行。程克俊曰：“比年百姓避役，正緣經界不正。行之，乃公私之利。 ”以椿年為兩浙路轉運副使，措置經界。椿年請先往平江諸縣，俟就緒即往諸州，要在均平，為民除害，不增稅額。十三年，以提舉洪州玉隆觀胡思、直顯謨閣徐林議沮經界，停官遠徙。以民田不上稅簿者沒官，稅簿不謹書者罪官吏。時量田不實者，罪至徒、流，江山尉汪大猷白椿年曰：“法峻，民未喻，固有田少而供多者，願許陳首追正。 ”椿年為之輕刑、省費甚眾。

In year 12 left office vice director Li Chunnian listed ten harms of incorrect boundaries and said: "Pingjiang once took in over 700,000, but though the register shows 390,000 hu, actual collection is only 200,000. Locals say it is all concealment. I hope for verification beginning in Pingjiang and then the realm, so boundaries are correct and humane government can proceed. The emperor told his ministers: "Chunnian's argument is quite orderly. Qin Hui also said the plan was simple and feasible. Cheng Kejun said: "People flee corvee because boundaries are wrong. Doing this will benefit both state and people. Chunnian was made Two Zhe transport vice commissioner to arrange boundaries. Chunnian asked to begin in Pingjiang counties, then other prefectures, seeking fairness, removing harm, and not raising quotas. In year 13 Hu Si, promoter of Hongzhou's Yulong Abbey, and Xu Lin, who obstructed boundary work, were demoted and exiled. Private fields not on tax registers were confiscated; officials with careless registers were punished. Those with inaccurate surveys could face penal servitude or exile. Jiangshan assistant magistrate Wang Dayou told Chunnian: "The law is harsh and people do not understand; some have little land but heavy obligations. Allow self-reporting to correct this. Chunnian lightened penalties and cut costs greatly.

十四年，以椿年權戶部侍郎，措置經界。尋以母憂去，以兩浙轉運副使王鈇權戶部侍郎措置。十五年，詔戶部及所遣官委曲措置，務使賦稅均而無擾。又因興國軍守臣宋時言，詔諸州縣違期歸業者，其田已佃及官賣者，即以官田之可耕者給還。十六年，王鈇以疾罷。十七年，復以李椿年權戶部侍郎，措置經界。先是，真州兵燼之餘，瘡痍未復，洪興祖為守，請復租二年，明年又復請之，自是流民浸歸。十八年，墾荒田至七萬餘畝。

In year 14 Chunnian was made acting revenue vice minister for boundary work. He soon left for mourning; Two Zhe transport vice commissioner Wang Yue replaced him as acting revenue vice minister. In year 15 an edict ordered the ministry and its agents to arrange matters carefully so levies were equal and people undisturbed. Because Xingguo Army official Song Shi spoke up, an edict said late returnees whose fields were tenanted or sold by the state should receive cultivable official fields. In year 16 Wang Yue resigned for illness. In year 17 Li Chunnian again became acting revenue vice minister for boundary work. Earlier, after Zhenzhou's war damage, prefect Hong Xingzu twice asked two-year rent remissions; refugees gradually returned. In year 18 wasteland reclaimed exceeded seventy thousand mu.

十九年，詔敕令所刪定官鄭克行四川經界法。克頗峻責州縣，所謂“省莊田”者，雖蔬果、桑柘莫不有征，而邛、蜀民田至什稅其伍。通判嘉州楊承曰：“仁政而虐行之，非法意也。上不違令，下不擾民，則仁政得矣。 ”召諸邑令謂曰：“平易近民，美成在久，其謹行之。無愧於心，何畏焉？ ”事迄成，為列郡最。其後，民有訴不均者，殿中侍御史曹筠劾椿年，罷之。上謂秦檜曰：“若下田受重稅，將無以輸。 ”檜曰：“臣已諭戶部侍郎宋貺，有未均處亟與改正。 ”二十年，詔：兩淮沃壤宜穀，置力田科，募民就耕，以廣官莊。知資州楊師錫言：有司奉行失當，田畝不分腴瘠，市居丈尺隙田，亦充稅產。於是降詔曰：“椿年乞行經界，去民十害，今聞浸失本意。凡便民者依已行，害民者與追正。 ”二十一年四月，宋貺罷。二十六年正月，上謂輔臣曰：“經界事李椿年主之，若推行就緒，不為不善。今諸路往往中輟，願得一通曉經界者款曲議之。 ”會潼川府轉運判官王之望上書，言蜀中經界利害甚悉。明年，以之望提點刑獄，畢經界事。

In year 19 an edict ordered Statutes Revision Office official Zheng Ke to carry out the Sichuan boundary law. Ke was harsh toward prefectures and counties; even vegetables and mulberry on "provincial estate fields" were taxed, and Qiong-Shu common fields were taxed up to half. Jiazhou vice prefect Yang Cheng said: "Benevolent policy enforced as cruelty violates the law's intent. Obey orders above without disturbing people below — then benevolent government is achieved. He summoned magistrates and said: "Be accessible to the people; lasting success takes time — act carefully. If your conscience is clear, what is there to fear? When finished, his prefecture ranked first. Later, when people complained of inequality, palace censor Cao Jun impeached Chunnian and he was removed. The emperor told Qin Hui: "If poor fields bear heavy tax, people cannot pay. Qin Hui said: "I have told Vice Minister Song Bian to correct inequalities at once. In year 20 an edict said Two Huai fertile land suits grain; a strong-farming category was created to recruit cultivators and expand official estates. Zizhou prefect Yang Shixi said offices enforced this wrongly, not distinguishing fertile from poor and taxing market gaps measured in inches. A lowered edict said: "Chunnian sought boundaries to remove ten harms; now the original intent is being lost. What benefits the people should stand; what harms them should be corrected. In the fourth month of year 21 Song Bian was dismissed. In the first month of year 26 the emperor told ministers: "Li Chunnian directed boundaries; done properly it would not be bad. Now circuits often stop midway; I want someone versed in boundaries to discuss it carefully. Tongchuan transport vice judge Wang Zhiwang submitted a detailed memorial on Shu boundaries. The next year he was made judicial intendant and finished boundary work.

三月，戶部言：“蜀地狹人夥，而京西、淮南膏腴官田尚多，許人承佃，官貸牛、種，八年仍償。並邊免租十年，次邊半之，滿三年與其業。願往者給據津發。 ”上曰：“善。但貧民乍請荒田，安能便得牛、種？若不從官貸，未免為虛文，可令相度支給。 ”四月，通判安豐軍王時升言：“淮南土皆膏腴，然地未盡辟、民不加多者，緣豪強虛占良田，而無遍耕之力；流民繈負而至，而無開耕之地。望凡荒閑田許人剗佃。 ”戶部議：期以二年，未墾者即如所請；京西路如之。詔以時升為司農寺丞。十月，用御史中丞湯鵬舉言，離軍添差之人，授以江、淮、湖南荒田，人一頃，為世業。所在郡以一歲奉充牛、種費，仍免租稅十年，丁役二十年。

In the third month the ministry said: "Shu is crowded while western capital and Huainan still have idle fertile official land; people may lease it with official oxen and seed loans, repaid in eight years. Border districts would be rent-free ten years, next-tier border half that, and after three years the holding would be theirs. Willing migrants would receive transit documents. The emperor said: "Good." But poor people applying for wasteland cannot at once get oxen and seed. Without official loans it is empty policy; direct appropriate supply. In the fourth month Anfeng vice prefect Wang Shisheng said: "Huainan soil is fertile, yet land stays unopened because powerful households falsely occupy good fields without strength to farm them all; refugees arrive with infants yet find no land to open. I hope all wasteland may be cleared by whoever will cultivate it. The ministry set a two-year deadline; unreclaimed land would follow the proposal; the western capital circuit would follow the same rule. An edict made Shisheng a director in the Ministry of Agriculture. In the tenth month, following Censor-in-Chief Tang Pengju, persons detached from the army were granted one qing each of Yangtze-Huai and Hunan wasteland as hereditary holdings. The host prefecture would devote one year's tax receipts to oxen and seed, while still granting ten years' exemption from rent and tax and twenty years' exemption from corvee.

二十八年，王之望言：“去年分遣官詣經界不均縣裁正，今已迄事。此後吏民尚敢扇搖以疑百姓者，乞重置於法。 ”從之。二十九年，知潭州魏良臣言：“本州歸業之民，以熟田為荒，不輸租。今令給甲輸稅，自明年始，不實，許人告，以為田賞之。 ”戶部議：“期逾百日，依匿稅法。 ”詔可。三十年，初令純州平江縣民實田輸稅，畝輸米二升四合。

In the twenty-eighth year Wang Zhiwang reported: "Last year the court sent officials to counties with unequal field boundaries to correct them, and that work is now finished. If officials or locals still stir up doubts among the people hereafter, I ask that they be punished to the full extent of the law. The memorial was approved. In the twenty-ninth year Tanzhou prefect Wei Liangchen said: "Returnees in this prefecture are reporting fertile fields as wasteland and paying no rent. Issue household registers for tax payment beginning next year; if the report is false, allow informers to claim the land as reward. The Ministry of Revenue ruled: "If the deadline exceeds one hundred days, apply the law on concealed taxes. The court approved the proposal. In the thirtieth year the court first required the people of Pingjiang County, Chunzhou, to pay tax on actual acreage, at two sheng four ge of rice per mu.

六年二月，詔曰：“朕深惟治不加進，思有以正其本者。今欲均役法，嚴限田，抑遊手，務農桑。凡是數者，卿等二三大臣為朕任之。 ”十有二月，監進奏院李結獻《治田三議》：一曰務本，二曰協力，三曰因時。大略謂：“浙西低田恃堤為固，若堤岸高厚，則水不能入。乞於蘇、湖、常、秀諸州水田塘浦要處，官以錢米貸田主，乘此農隙，作堰增令高闊，則堤成而水不為患。方此饑饉，俾食其力，因其所利而利之。秋冬旱涸，涇浜斷流，車畎修築，尤為省力。 ”詔令胡堅常相度以聞。其後，戶部以三議切當，但工力浩瀚，欲曉有田之家，各依鄉原畝步出錢米與租田之人，更相修築，庶官無所費，民不告勞。從之。

In the second month of the sixth year an edict declared: "I have deeply considered why rule does not improve and seek a way to set its foundations right. I now intend to equalize corvee obligations, enforce field limits, restrain idlers, and promote farming and sericulture. For each of these tasks, let you two or three senior ministers take charge on my behalf. In the twelfth month Li Jie of the Memorial Reception Bureau submitted the 《Three Proposals on Governing Fields》: first, secure the fundamentals; second, pool labor; third, follow the seasons. In summary he argued: "Western Zhejiang's low fields depend on dikes for protection; if the banks are raised high and thick, floodwater cannot enter. He asked that at critical paddy and pond sites in Su, Hu, Chang, and Xiu the state lend money and grain to landowners, use the farming slack season to build and heighten weirs, and so complete the dikes so water would no longer threaten the fields. In the present famine, let the people live by their labor and turn the work to their own advantage. In the dry autumn and winter season, when canals run low, repairing fields by cart-drawn ditches is especially economical of labor. The court ordered Hu Jianchang to survey the proposal and report back. Later the Ministry of Revenue judged the three proposals sound but the labor enormous, and proposed notifying landowners to contribute money and grain by local acre measure to their tenants for joint repairs, so the state would bear no cost and the people would not be overburdened. Approved.

七年二月，知揚州晁公武奏：“朝廷以沿淮荒殘之久，未行租稅，民復業與創戶者，雖阡陌相望，然聞之官者十才二三，咸懼後來稅重。昔晚唐民務稼穡則增其租，故播種少；吳越民墾荒田而不加稅，故無曠土。望詔兩淮更不增賦，庶民知勸。 ”詔可。十月，司馬伋請勸民種麥，為來春之計。於是詔江東西、湖南北、淮東西路帥漕，官為借種及諭大姓假貸農民廣種，依賑濟格推賞，仍上已種頃畝，議賞罰。九年，王之奇奏增定力田賞格，募人開耕荒田，給官告綾紙以備書填，及官會十萬緡充農具等用。以種糧不足，又詔淮東總領所借給稻三萬石。

In the second month of the seventh year Yangzhou prefect Chao Gongwu submitted: "Because the Huai borderlands have long lain waste, the court has not yet levied rent and tax. Returnees and new households may fill the fields as far as one can see, yet only two or three in ten are reported to officials, for all fear heavier taxes to come. In late Tang, when the people turned to farming, rents were raised, and sowing declined; In Wu and Yue the people opened wasteland without added tax, and no land lay idle. I ask that an edict declare the Two Huai circuits will levy no further increases, so the people may be encouraged to cultivate. The court approved the memorial. In the tenth month Sima Ji asked the court to urge wheat planting as preparation for the coming spring. The court then ordered the Jiangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Huaidong, and Huaixi commanders and transport officials to lend seed on the state's behalf and urge great families to lend to farmers for wider planting, grant rewards under relief regulations, and report planted acreage for reward and punishment. In the ninth year Wang Zhiqi proposed raising the fixed rewards for steadfast farming, recruiting cultivators for wasteland, providing official appointment documents and silk paper for records, and allocating one hundred thousand strings from the treasury for farm tools and related expenses. When seed grain proved insufficient, the court further ordered the Huaidong regional headquarters to lend thirty thousand shi of rice.

淳熙五年，詔：“湖北佃戶開墾荒田，止輸舊稅。若包占頃畝，未悉開耕，詔下之日，期以二年，不能遍耕者拘作營田，其增稅、剗佃之令勿行。 ”六年五月，提舉浙西常平茶鹽顏師魯奏：“設勸課之法，欲重農桑、廣種植也。今鄉民於己田連接閑曠磽確之地，墾成田園，用力甚勤。或以未陳起稅，為人所訟，即以盜耕罪之，何以勸力田哉？止宜實田起稅，非特可戢告訐之風，亦見盛世重農之意。 ”詔可。十有一月，臣僚奏：“比令諸路帥、漕督守令勸諭種麥，歲上所增頃畝。然土有宜否，湖南一路唯衡、永等數郡宜麥，餘皆文具。望止諭民以時播種，免其歲上增種之數，庶得勸課之實。”

In the fifth year of Chunxi an edict declared: "Hubei tenants who reclaim wasteland shall pay only the former tax rate. Those who claim acreage but do not fully cultivate it are given two years from the edict's promulgation; land not fully worked is taken as state fields, and orders for higher tax or eviction shall not apply. In the fifth month of the sixth year Yan Shilu, western Zhejiang intendant for Ever-Normal tea and salt, wrote: "The encouragement laws were meant to promote farming, sericulture, and wider planting. Villagers are now diligently reclaiming adjoining idle and stony ground into fields and gardens. Yet some are denounced and punished for illicit cultivation because they failed to register the new land for tax--how can this encourage diligent farming? Tax should be levied only on actual acreage; this would curb malicious suits and show that the age truly values agriculture. The court approved the proposal. In the eleventh month officials reported: "The court recently ordered circuit commanders and transport commissioners to supervise local officials in urging wheat planting and to report annual increases in acreage. Yet soil varies in suitability: in Hunan only Heng, Yong, and a few other prefectures are fit for wheat, while the rest produce only paper reports. I ask that the court simply urge timely sowing and waive the annual quota for added planting, so the encouragement policy may have real effect.

七年，復詔兩浙、江、淮、湖南、京西路帥、漕臣督守令勸民種麥，務要增廣。自是每歲如之。八年五月，詔曰：“乃者得天之時，蠶麥既登，及命近甸取而視之，則穗短繭薄，非種植風厲之功有所未至歟？朕將稽勤惰而詔賞罰焉。 ”是歲連雨，下田被浸，詔兩浙諸州軍與常平司措置，再借種糧與下戶播種，毋致失時。十有一月，輔臣奏：“田世雄言，民有麥田，雖墾無種，若貸與貧民，猶可種春麥。臣僚亦言，江、浙旱田雖已耕，亦無麥種。 ”於是詔諸路帥、漕、常平司，以常平麥貸之。

In the seventh year the court again ordered the Liang-Zhe, Jiang, Huai, Hunan, and Jingxi commanders and transport officials to supervise local authorities in urging wheat planting and to seek real expansion. Thereafter the order was repeated every year. In the fifth month of the eighth year an edict declared: "Heaven has lately favored the season and both silkworms and wheat have been harvested, yet when the nearby countryside was inspected the grain ears were short and the cocoons thin--has encouragement of planting and local custom not yet done its work? I shall review diligence and neglect and issue rewards and punishments accordingly. That year unbroken rain inundated the low fields, and the court ordered the Zhejiang prefectures and Ever-Normal offices to lend seed again to poorer households for planting so the season would not be lost. In the eleventh month the chief ministers reported: "Tian Shixiong said that many households have plowed wheat fields but no seed; if seed were lent to the poor, spring wheat could still be sown. Other officials added that in Jiang and Zhe the dry fields, though plowed, also lack wheat seed. The court then ordered all circuit commanders, transport officials, and Ever-Normal offices to lend wheat from the Ever-Normal stores.

先是，知揚州鄭良嗣言：“兩淮民田，廣至包占，多未起稅。朝廷累限展首，今限滿適旱，乞更展一年。 ”詔如其請。九年，著作郎袁樞振兩淮還，奏：“民占田不知其數，二稅既免，止輸穀帛之課。力不能墾，則廢為荒地；他人請佃，則以疆界為詞，官無稽考。是以野不加辟，戶不加多，而郡縣之計益窘。望詔州縣畫疆立券，占田多而輸課少者，隨畝增之；其餘閑田，給與佃人，庶幾流民有可耕之地，而田萊不至多荒。”

Earlier Yangzhou prefect Zheng Liangsi reported: "Across the Two Huai, people have widely claimed fields, and most remain unassessed for tax. The court has repeatedly extended the deadlines, but the term has now expired amid drought; I ask for one more year. The court granted the request. In the ninth year archival compiler Yuan Shu returned from inspecting the Two Huai and reported: "The people hold land in untold amounts; the two taxes are already waived, and they pay only grain-and-cloth levies. When they lack strength to farm it, the land is left waste; when others seek to rent it, boundary disputes are raised as pretexts, and officials have no way to verify the claims. Hence the wasteland is not opened, households do not grow, and prefectural and county revenues grow ever tighter. I ask that prefectures and counties demarcate boundaries and issue deeds, and raise taxes by the mu for those who hold much land but pay little; and assign remaining idle land to tenants, so refugees may have fields to work and the countryside may not lie largely fallow.

紹熙元年，初，朱熹為泉之同安簿，知二郡經界不行之害。至是，知漳州。會臣僚請行閩中經界，詔監司條具，事下郡。熹訪問講求，纖悉備至。乃奏言：“經界最為民間莫大之利，紹興已推行處，公私兩利，獨泉，漳、汀未行。臣不敢先一身之勞逸，而後一州之利病，切獨任其必可行也。然必推擇官吏，委任責成；度量步畝，算計精確；畫圖造帳，費從官給；隨產均稅，特許過鄉通縣均紐，庶幾百里之內，輕重齊同。今欲每畝隨九等高下定計產錢，而合一州租稅錢米之數，以產錢為母，每文輸米幾何，錢幾何，止於一倉一庫受納。既輸之後，卻視原額分隸為省計，為職田，為學糧，為常平，各撥入諸倉庫。版圖一定，則民業有經矣。但此法之行，貧民下戶固所深喜，然不能自達其情；豪家猾吏實所不樂，皆善為說辭，以惑群聽；賢士大夫之喜安靜、厭紛擾者，又或不深察而望風沮怯，此則不能無慮。 ”輔臣請行於漳州。明年春，詔漕臣陳公亮同熹協力奉行。會農事方興，熹益加講究，冀來歲行之。細民知其不擾而利於己，莫不鼓舞，而貴家豪右占田隱稅、侵漁貧弱者，胥為異論以搖之，前詔遂格。熹請祠去。五年，蠲廬州旱傷百姓貸稻種三萬二千一百石。

In the first year of Shaoxi, Zhu Xi had earlier served as Tong'an registrar in Quan and knew the harm when field boundaries were not enforced in the region. By then he was prefect of Zhangzhou. When officials asked to implement field boundaries in Fujian, the court ordered supervisory commissioners to draft plans and referred the matter to the prefectures. Zhu Xi investigated the subject thoroughly, leaving no detail unattended. He then submitted: "Field boundaries are the greatest benefit the people can receive. Where they were implemented in the Shaoxing era both state and people profited, yet only Quan, Zhang, and Ting have not done so. I dare not put my own comfort before the prefecture's welfare and personally pledge that the measure can be made to work. Yet officials must be carefully chosen and given clear responsibility; fields must be measured in precise paces and mu; maps and registers prepared at state expense; taxes assessed by yield, with special permission to average burdens across townships and counties so that within a hundred li the burdens may be equal. I propose setting yield money for each mu by the nine land grades, combining the prefecture's rent and tax totals in money and grain, using yield money as the basis to calculate rice and cash per wen, and collecting payment at a single granary and treasury. After collection, the amounts would be divided according to the original quotas among provincial revenue, official fields, school grain, and Ever-Normal stores and transferred to the appropriate warehouses. Once the land registers are fixed, the people's holdings will have a secure foundation. Yet in carrying out this law, the poor and lower households would deeply welcome it but cannot make their wishes heard; wealthy families and corrupt clerks are truly displeased and are adept at persuasive talk to mislead the crowd; and worthy gentlemen who prefer quiet and dislike disturbance may fail to look closely and shrink at rumor--on this I cannot be without concern. The chief ministers asked that the measure be carried out in Zhangzhou. The following spring the court ordered transport commissioner Chen Gongliang to work with Zhu Xi in implementing the plan. Farming was then at its height, so Zhu Xi studied the plan further, hoping to put it into effect the next year. Ordinary people, seeing that the reform would not harass them and would serve their interests, were elated; but powerful families that held land, concealed taxes, and preyed on the poor all raised objections to shake the project, and the earlier edict was set aside. Zhu Xi asked leave to a temple post and withdrew. In the fifth year the court remitted thirty-two thousand one hundred shi of rice seed lent to drought victims in Luzhou.

慶元元年二月，上以歲凶，百姓饑病，詔曰：“朕德菲薄，饑饉薦臻，使民阽於死亡，夙夜慘怛，寧敢諉過於下耶？顧使者、守令所與朕分寄而共憂也，乃涉春以來，聞一二郡老稚乏食，去南畝，捐溝壑，咎安在耶？豈振給不盡及民歟？得粟者未必饑，饑者未必得歟？偏聚於所近，不能均濟歟？官吏視成而自不省歟？其各恪意措畫，務使實惠不壅，毋以虛文蒙上，則朕汝嘉。”

In the second month of the first year of Qingyuan, because the harvest failed and the people suffered hunger and sickness, an edict declared: "My virtue is slight; famine follows famine and the people stand at death's door. Day and night I am anguished--how dare I lay the blame on my officials? Yet the envoys, prefects, and magistrates share my trust and my cares; since spring I have heard that in one or two prefectures the old and young lack food, abandon their fields, and fall into the ditches--where does the fault lie? Is relief failing to reach the people? Are those who receive grain not always the hungry, and the hungry not always those who receive it? Is grain hoarded nearby and not shared evenly? Do officials treat the work as done and fail to examine themselves? Let each of you plan diligently, see that real benefit is not blocked, and not deceive the throne with empty reports--then I shall commend you.

寧宗開禧元年，夔路轉運判官範蓀言：“本路施、黔等州荒遠，綿亙山谷，地曠人稀，其占田多者須人耕墾，富豪之家誘客戶舉室遷去。乞將皇祐官莊客戶逃移之法校定：凡為客戶者，許役其身，毋及其家屬；凡典賣田宅，聽其離業，毋就租以充客戶；凡貸錢，止憑文約交還，毋抑勒以為地客；凡客戶身故、其妻改嫁者，聽其自便，女聽其自嫁。庶使深山窮穀之民，得安生理。 ”刑部以皇祐逃移舊法輕重適中，可以經久，淳熙比附略人之法太重，今後凡理訴官莊客戶，並用皇祐舊法。從之。

In the first year of Kaixi under Emperor Ningzong, Kuizhou vice transport commissioner Fan Sun reported: "In this circuit prefectures such as Shi and Qian lie remote among the mountains, with broad land and few people. Large landowners need cultivators, yet wealthy families entice tenant clients to move away with their entire households. I ask that the Huangyou law on flight of official-estate clients be revised: clients may be required to labor in person, but not with their entire families; those who sell fields or houses may leave the land and not be forced into tenancy as clients; loans shall be repaid only according to written agreements, without coercion into land tenancy; when a client dies or his wife remarries, they shall be free to do as they wish, and daughters free to marry as they choose. So that the people of remote mountain valleys may live in security. The Ministry of Justice ruled that the old Huangyou law on client flight was balanced and durable, whereas the Chunxi analogy to abduction law was too severe; henceforth all suits involving official-estate clients would follow the Huangyou statute. Approved.

嘉定八年，左司諫黃序奏：“雨澤愆期，地多荒白。知餘杭縣趙師恕請勸民雜種麻、粟、豆、麥之屬，蓋種稻則費少利多，雜種則勞多獲少。慮收成之日，田主欲分，官課責輸，則非徒無益；若使之從便雜種，多寡皆為己有，則不勸而勤，民可無饑。望如所陳，下兩浙、兩淮、江東西等路，凡有耕種失時者並令雜種，主毋分其地利，官毋取其秋苗，庶幾農民得以續食，官免振救之費。 ”從之。

In the eighth year of Jiading Left Secretariat remonstrator Huang Xu reported: "Rain has failed to come on time and much land lies fallow. Yuhang magistrate Zhao Shishu proposed urging the people to plant mixed crops such as hemp, millet, beans, and wheat, noting that rice costs little labor for great return whereas mixed crops cost much labor for little gain. He feared that at harvest landlords would demand a share and officials would levy taxes, so the effort would bring no benefit; but if people were allowed to plant mixed crops freely and keep the whole yield, they would work diligently without urging and hunger could be avoided. He asked that, as proposed, edicts go out to the Two Zhe, Two Huai, and Jiangdong and Jiangxi circuits ordering mixed planting wherever the season had been missed, with landlords barred from taking a share of the yield and officials barred from seizing the autumn crop, so peasants could keep eating and the state could avoid relief costs. The court approved.

知婺州趙{與心}夫行經界於其州，整有倫緒，而{與心}夫報罷。士民相率請於朝，乃命趙師岩繼之。後二年，魏豹文代師岩為守，行之益力。於是向之上戶析為貧下之戶，實田隱為逃絕之田者，粲然可考。凡結甲冊、戶產簿、丁口簿、魚鱗圖、類姓簿二十三萬九千有奇，創庫匱以藏之，曆三年而後上其事於朝。

Zhao Yuxin, prefect of Wuzhou, conducted a well-ordered land-boundary survey in his jurisdiction, but Yuxin was then recalled from office. Local elites and commoners petitioned the court together, and Zhao Shiyan was appointed to continue the work. Two years later Wei Baowen succeeded Shiyan as prefect and pushed the project harder still. Households that had been registered as wealthy were reclassified as poor or lower-status, and fields that had been hidden as abandoned were brought plainly to light. They compiled more than 239,000 household registers, property rolls, population lists, fish-scale maps, and clan records, built vaults to store them, and reported the results to court only after three years.

淳祐二年九月，敕曰：“四川累經兵火，百姓棄業避難，官以其曠土權耕屯以給軍食，及民歸業，占據不還。自今凡民有契券，界至分明，析在州縣屯官隨即歸還。其有違戾，許民越訴，重罪之。”

In the ninth month of Chunyou 2 an edict declared: "Sichuan has been ravaged again and again by war. People fled their livelihoods for safety. Officials put idle land under temporary garrison cultivation to feed the armies; when the people came back, that land was held and not returned. From now on, wherever commoners hold contracts with clear boundaries, any land listed under prefectural or county garrison offices must be returned immediately. Violators may be appealed against directly to higher authority, and shall be punished severely.

六年，殿中侍御史兼侍講謝方叔言：

In year 6 Palace Attendant remonstrator and imperial lecturer Xie Fangshu said:

“豪強兼並之患，至今日而極，非限民名田有所不可，是亦救世道之微權也。國朝駐蹕錢塘，百有二十餘年矣。外之境土日荒，內之生齒日繁，權勢之家日盛，兼並之習日滋，百姓日貧，經製日壞，上下煎迫，若有不可為之勢。所謂富貴操柄者，若非人主之所得專，識者懼焉。夫百萬生靈資生養之具，皆本於穀粟，而穀粟之產，皆出於田。今百姓膏腴皆歸貴勢之家，租米有及百萬石者；少民百畝之田，頻年差充保役，官吏誅求百端，不得已，則獻其產於巨室，以規免役。小民田日減而保役不休，大官田日增而保役不及。以此弱之肉，強之食，兼並浸盛，民無以遂其生。於斯時也，可不嚴立經製以為之防乎？

"The plague of powerful landlords swallowing fields has reached its peak. Nothing less than a ceiling on household landholding will do—and even that is only a small emergency measure to shore up the moral order. The dynasty has made its seat at Qiantang for more than a hundred and twenty years. Frontier lands waste away while the population inside grows; powerful families rise, annexation spreads, the people grow poorer, and the regulatory framework rots. Court and country are squeezed as though nothing can be done. When the rich who control the levers of power are no longer fully at the ruler's command, thoughtful men grow afraid. Millions depend for their living on grain, and grain comes from the fields. Today the best farmland belongs to the great and powerful, and some landlords collect rent of a million shi of grain; smallholders with a hundred mu face corvee year after year and endless official exactions; with no way out, they surrender their land to great estates to escape service. Smallholders lose land daily yet corvee never stops; great landlords add land daily yet corvee never touches them. The weak are devoured by the strong, annexation spreads, and commoners can no longer survive. At such a moment, can the state afford not to set a firm regulatory fence?

去年，諫官嚐以限田為說，朝廷付之悠悠。不知今日國用邊餉，皆仰和糴。然權勢多田之家，和糴不容以加之，保役不容以及之。敵人睥睨於外，盜賊窺伺於內，居此之時，與其多田厚貲不可長保，曷若捐金助國共紓目前？在轉移而開導之耳。乞諭二三大臣，摭臣僚論奏而行之，使經製以定，兼並以塞，於以尊朝廷，於以裕國計。陛下勿牽貴近之言以搖初意，大臣勿避仇怨之多而廢良策，則天下幸甚。 ”從之。

Last year remonstrators proposed land limits, but the court let the matter drift. They fail to see that state revenue and frontier rations now depend entirely on government grain purchase. Yet great landlords with vast holdings escape both purchase quotas and corvee. Enemies press from outside and bandits wait within. In such a time, why cling to broad estates and heavy wealth that cannot last, when donating gold to the state would relieve the immediate crisis for everyone? What is needed is to turn their minds and lead them toward it. I ask that the chief ministers be told to collect officials' proposals and put them into practice, fixing the regulatory system, blocking annexation, strengthening the throne, and easing the treasury. Let Your Majesty not let the counsel of the powerful at court shake your first resolve; let the chief ministers not abandon a sound policy for fear of enemies—then the realm will be greatly blessed. The court approved.

十一年九月，敕曰：“監司、州縣不許非法估籍民產，戒非不嚴，而貪官暴吏，往往不問所犯輕重，不顧同居有分財產，一例估籍，殃及平民。或戶絕之家不與命繼；或經陳訴許以給還，輒假他名支破，竟成幹沒；或有典業不聽收贖，遂使產主無辜失業。違戾官吏，重置典憲。 ”是歲，信常饒州、嘉興府舉行經界。

In the ninth month of year 11 an edict declared: "Circuit and prefectural officials must not illegally appraise and seize civilian property. The ban is strict, yet greedy and brutal officers often ignore the severity of the offense, disregard jointly held family estates, seize everything alike, and ruin ordinary people. Sometimes extinct households are denied lawful heirs; sometimes restitution is promised after appeal, only for funds to be disbursed under another name and embezzled; sometimes mortgaged property cannot be redeemed, leaving innocent owners destitute. Officials who violate this shall face the full weight of the law. That year Xinzhou, Changzhou, Raozhou, and Jiaxing carried out land-boundary surveys.

咸淳元年，監察御史趙順孫言：“經界將以便民，雖窮閻下戶之所深願，而未必豪宗大姓之所盡樂。自非有以深服其心，則亦何以使其情意之悉孚哉？且今之所謂推排，非昔之所謂自實也。推排者，委之鄉都，則徑捷而易行；自實者，責之於人戶，則散漫而難集。嘉定以來之經界，時至近也，官有正籍，鄉都有副籍，彪列戶分，莫不具在，為鄉都者不過按成牘而更業主之姓名。若夫紹興之經界，其時則遠矣，其籍之存者寡矣。因其鱗差櫛比而求焉，由一而至百，由百而至千，由千而至萬，稽其畝步，訂其主佃，亦莫如鄉都之便也。朱熹所以主經界而辟自實者，正謂是也。州縣能守朝廷鄉都任責之令，又隨諸州之便宜而為之區處，當必人情之悉孚，不令而行矣。 ”從之。

In Xianchun 1 Supervising Censor Zhao Shunsun said: "Land-boundary registration is meant to help the people. The poorest households want it deeply, but great clans may not welcome it at all. Unless they are truly won over, how can their goodwill be fully secured? Moreover, today's "pushed reassessment" is not the old "self-reporting." With pushed reassessment, entrust the work to village chiefs and it is swift and easy; with self-reporting, burden each household and the effort is scattered and hard to complete. The Jiading survey is recent: officials hold the main register, village chiefs hold copies, and household divisions are all on file. Chiefs need only update the owner's name on existing documents. The Shaoxing survey lies far in the past, and few registers survive. Rebuilding from fish-scale maps one by one, ten by ten, a thousand by a thousand, checking acreage and boundaries and fixing owners and tenants—nothing is easier than working through the village chiefs. That is why Zhu Xi favored land-boundary registration and opposed self-reporting. If prefectures and counties enforce the court's charge to village chiefs and adapt methods to local conditions, the people will be won over and the work will go forward without coercion. The court approved.

三年，司農卿兼戶部侍郎李鏞言：“夫經界嚐議修明矣，而修明卒不行；嚐令自實矣，而自實卒不竟。豈非上之任事者每欲避理財之名，下之不樂其成者又每倡為擾民之說。故寧坐視邑政之壞，而不敢詰猾吏奸民之欺；寧忍取下戶之苛，而不敢受豪家大姓之怨。蓋經界之法，必多差官吏，必悉集都保，必遍走阡陌，必盡量步畝，必審定等色，必紐折計等，奸弊轉生，久不迄事。乃若推排之法，不過以縣統都，以都統保，選任才富公平者，訂田畝稅色，載之圖冊，使民有定產，產有定稅，稅有定籍而已。臣守吳門，巳嚐見之施行。今聞紹興亦漸就緒，湖南漕臣亦以一路告成。竊謂東南諸郡，皆奉行惟謹。其或田畝未實，則令鄉局厘正之；圖冊未備，則令縣局程督之。又必郡守察縣之稽違，監司察郡之怠弛，嚴其號令，信其賞罰，期之秋冬以竟其事，責之年歲以課其成，如《周官》日成、月要、歲會以綜核之。 ”於是詔諸路漕、帥施行焉。

In year 3 Minister of Agriculture and acting Revenue Vice Minister Li Yong said: "Land-boundary reform has been debated many times, yet never fully carried out; self-reporting was once ordered, yet never finished. Is it not because superiors shun the label of "managing finances," while local interests that oppose success cry that the people are being harassed. They would rather watch local government rot than confront corrupt clerks and cheating landowners; rather squeeze poor households than provoke great clans. The old boundary law demands armies of officials, full musters of militia units, surveys of every path, measurement of every field, grading of every plot, and tangled accounting—fraud flourishes and the work never ends. Pushed reassessment simply lets the county supervise districts and districts supervise militia units, appoints capable and fair men, fixes acreage and tax grades, records them in registers, and gives every household fixed property, fixed tax, and fixed registration—that is all. In my tenure at the Wu prefecture I have seen it work. Shaoxing is reportedly nearing completion, and the Hunan transport commissioner says his entire circuit is done. I believe the southeastern prefectures are all carrying it out diligently. Where acreage is wrong, the village office should correct it; where maps and registers are incomplete, the county office should press for completion. Prefects must watch counties for delay, intendants must watch prefectures for slackness, orders must be strict and rewards and punishments reliable, autumn and winter set as the deadline, and yearly harvest as the test of completion—just as the 《Zhou Offices》 uses daily results, monthly reports, and yearly reckoning for oversight. An edict then ordered every circuit's transport and military commissioners to carry it out.

大抵南渡後水田之利，富於中原，故水利大興。而諸籍沒田募民耕者，皆仍私租舊額，每失之重，輸納之際，公私事例迥殊。私租額重而納輕，承佃猶可；公租額重而納重，則佃不堪命。州縣胥吏與倉庾百執事之人，皆得為侵漁之道於耕者也。季世金人乍和乍戰，戰則軍需浩繁，和則歲幣重大，國用常苦不繼，於是因民苦官租之重，命有司括賣官田以給用。其初弛其力役以誘之，其終不免於抑配，此官田之弊也。嘉定以後，又有所謂安邊所田，收其租以助歲幣。至其將亡，又限民名田，買其限外所有，謂之公田。初議欲省和糴以紓民力，而其弊極多，其租尤重；宋亡，遺患猶不息也。凡水田、官田之法，公田見於史者，彙其始末而悉載於篇，有足鑒者焉。

After the southward relocation, paddy-field yields in the south surpassed those of the north, and hydraulic works flourished. Yet tenants on confiscated land still paid old private-rent rates that were often too high, and at collection time public and private rules diverged sharply. Private rents were high on paper but light in collection, so tenants could still manage; public rents were high on paper and heavy in collection, and tenants could not endure them. Prefectural clerks and granary staff alike found ways to squeeze the cultivators. In the dynasty's final decades the Jurchens swung between peace and war. War brought vast military costs; peace brought heavy annual tribute. The treasury was often empty, so because people groaned under official rents, the state ordered official fields catalogued and sold to meet expenses. At first labor duties were eased to entice buyers; in the end purchasers could not escape forced quotas—such were the abuses of official land sales. After Jiading came so-called frontier-pacification office land, whose rents helped pay annual tribute. Near the dynasty's fall, household land limits were imposed again and excess holdings were bought up as "public fields." The plan was meant to reduce government grain purchase and ease the people, but abuses multiplied and rents were especially crushing; and after the Song fell the harm did not end. The laws governing paddy land, official fields, and public fields recorded in history are gathered here from beginning to end—material well worth heeding.

紹興元年，詔宣州、太平州守臣修圩。二年，以修圩錢米及貸民種糧，並於宣州常平、義倉米撥借。三年，定州縣圩田租額充軍儲。建康府永豐圩租米，歲以三萬石為額。圩四至相去皆五六十里，有田九百五十餘頃，近歲墾田不及三之一。至是，始立額。

In Shaoxing 1 an edict ordered the prefects of Xuanzhou and Taiping to repair the dikes. In year 2 dike-repair funds, grain, and seed loans were all drawn from Xuanzhou's ever-normal and righteous-granary stocks. In year 3 rent quotas on dike fields were fixed to supply military stores. The Yongfeng dike in Jianchang prefecture was assessed 30,000 shi of rent grain per year. The dike stretched fifty or sixty li on each side and held more than 950 qing of land, though recent reclamation had reached less than a third of that. Only then was the quota set.

五年，江東帥臣李光言：“明、越之境，皆有陂湖，大抵湖高於田，田又高於江、海。旱則放湖水溉田，澇則決田水入海，故無水旱之災。本朝慶曆、嘉祐間，始有盜湖為田者，其禁甚嚴。政和以來，創為應奉，始廢湖為田。自是兩州之民，歲被水旱之患。餘姚、上虞每縣收租不過數千斛，而所失民田常賦，動以萬計。莫若先罷兩邑湖田。 ”其會稽之鑒湖、鄞之廣德湖、蕭山之湘湖等處尚多，望詔漕臣盡廢之。其江東、西圩田，蘇、秀圍田，令監司守令條上。 ”於是詔諸路漕臣議之。其後議者雖稱合廢，竟仍其舊。

In year 5 Jiangdong military commissioner Li Guang said: "In Ming and Yue there are reservoir lakes everywhere. As a rule the lake lies above the fields, and the fields above the rivers and sea. In drought the lakes irrigate the fields; in flood the fields drain into the sea. That is why the region once knew neither flood nor drought. Under our dynasty, in the Qingli and Jiayou eras, people first began encroaching on lakes for farmland, and the ban was strict. From the Zhenghe era onward, tribute agencies were set up and lakes were turned into fields. Since then the people of both prefectures have suffered floods and droughts every year. Yuyao and Shangyu each collect only a few thousand hu in rent, while the regular taxes lost from ruined farmland run to tens of thousands. The best course is to abolish the lake fields in those two counties first. Mirror Lake at Kuaiji, Guangde Lake in Yin, Xiang Lake in Xiaoshan, and others still remain in large numbers. I ask that the transport commissioner abolish them all. For dike fields in Jiangdong and Jiangxi and embanked fields in Suzhou and Xiuzhou, circuit intendants and prefects should submit detailed reports. An edict then ordered transport commissioners in every circuit to deliberate. Later deliberations favored abolition, but in the end the old arrangements remained.

初，五代馬氏於潭州東二十里，因諸山之泉，築堤瀦水，號曰龜塘，溉田萬頃。其後堤壞，歲旱，民皆阻饑。七年，守臣呂頤浩始募民修復，以廣耕稼。十六年，知袁州張成巳言：“江西良田，多占山岡，望委守令講陂塘灌溉之利。 ”其後比部員外郎李滬言，淮西高原處舊有陂塘，請給錢米，以時修浚。知江陰軍蔣及祖亦請浚治本軍五卸溝以泄水，修復橫河支渠以溉旱。乃並詔諸路常平司行之，每季以施行聞。

Early in the Five Dynasties the Ma clan, twenty li east of Tanzhou, dammed mountain springs into a reservoir called Turtle Pond that irrigated ten thousand qing. Later the dike failed; in drought years the people starved. In year 7 the prefect Lü Yihao first recruited labor to repair it and expand cultivation. In year 16 Yuanzhou prefect Zhang Chengji said: "In Jiangxi good farmland often lies on hillsides. I ask that prefects and magistrates be ordered to promote reservoir irrigation. Later Review Bureau vice director Li Hu said that old reservoirs on the Huaixi highlands should receive funds and grain for timely repair. Jiangyin commander Jiang Jizu also asked to dredge the army's Five Discharge Ditch for drainage and restore branch channels of the Horizontal River to irrigate dry fields. All were ordered carried out by the circuits' ever-normal offices, with quarterly progress reports.

二十三年，諫議大夫史才言：“浙西、民田最廣，而平時無甚害者，太湖之利也。近年瀕湖之地，多為兵卒侵據，累土增高，長堤彌望，名曰壩田。旱則據之以溉，而民田不沾其利；澇則遠近泛濫，不得入湖，而民田盡沒。望盡復太湖舊跡，使軍民各安，田疇均利。 ”從之。二十四年，大理寺丞周環言：“臨安、平江、湖、秀四州下田，多為積水所浸。緣溪山諸水並歸太湖，自太湖分二派：東南一派由鬆江入於海，東北一派由諸浦注之江。其鬆江泄水，惟白茅一浦最大。今泥沙淤塞，宜決浦故道，俾水勢分派流暢，實四州無窮之利。 ”詔兩浙漕臣視之。

In year 23 Remonstrance Doctor Shi Cai said: "In western Zhe the people's fields are vast, and in ordinary times they suffer little harm because of Tai Lake. In recent years lakeshore land has mostly been seized by soldiers, who piled earth into long dikes called dam fields. In drought they use it to irrigate while ordinary fields receive no benefit; In flood season waters spread everywhere and cannot drain into the lake, and the people's fields are wholly inundated. I ask that Tai Lake be fully restored to its former bounds, so soldiers and civilians alike may live in peace and the fields share the benefit equally. The court adopted his proposal. In year 24 Dali Temple Vice Director Zhou Huan said: "In Lin'an, Pingjiang, Huzhou, and Xiuzhou the low-lying fields are largely submerged by standing water. The hill streams all converge on Tai Lake, which then divides into two branches: the southeastern branch flows to the sea through Songjiang, and the northeastern branch is discharged into the Yangzi through various water mouths. Of Songjiang's outlets for draining the lake, the Baimao sluice alone is the largest. Silt has now choked them shut. The old sluice channels should be reopened so the water may divide and run freely—a benefit to the four prefectures without end. An edict ordered the Two Zhe transport commissioners to inspect the situation.

二十八年，兩浙轉運副使趙子潚、知平江府蔣璨言：“太湖者，數州之巨浸，而獨泄以鬆江之一川，宜其勢有所不逮。是以昔人於常熟之北開二十四浦，疏而導之江；又於昆山之東開一十二浦，分而納之海。三十六浦後為潮汐沙積，而開江之卒亦廢，於是民田有淹沒之患。天聖間，漕臣張綸嚐於常熟、昆山各開眾浦；景祐間，郡守範仲淹亦親至海浦，浚開五河；政和間提舉官趙霖復嚐開浚。今諸浦湮塞，又非前比，計用工三百三十餘萬，錢三十三萬餘緡，米十萬餘斛。 ”於是詔監察御史任古復視之。既而古至平江言：“常熟五浦通江誠便，若依所請，以五千功，月餘可畢。 ”詔以激賞庫錢、平江府上供米如數給之。二十九年，子潚又言：“父老稱福山塘與丁涇地勢等，若不浚福山塘，則水必倒注於丁涇。 ”乃命並浚之。

In year 28 Two Zhe Transport Vice Commissioner Zhao Zishe and Pingjiang Prefect Jiang Can said: "Tai Lake is the great reservoir of several prefectures, yet it drains through Songjiang alone—small wonder its force cannot keep up. For this reason men of old opened twenty-four sluices north of Changshu, dredged them, and led the water to the Yangzi; and east of Kunshan opened twelve more, dividing the flow and discharging it into the sea. The thirty-six sluices were later choked by tidal sand, and the river-opening corps was disbanded as well, so the people's fields came under threat of flooding. During the Tiansheng era Transport Commissioner Zhang Lun once opened many sluices at Changshu and Kunshan; in the Jingyou era Prefect Fan Zhongyan went in person to the coastal outlets and dredged open five rivers; and in the Zhenghe era Intendant Zhao Lin undertook dredging once again. Today the sluices are choked shut and the situation is worse than ever. The work is estimated at more than 3.3 million labor units, 330,000 strings of cash, and 100,000 bushels of grain. An edict then ordered Investigating Censor Ren Gu to inspect the project again. Ren Gu soon reached Pingjiang and reported: "Opening the five Changshu sluices into the Yangzi is genuinely advantageous; if the request is followed, five thousand labor units should finish the work in little more than a month. An edict supplied the Stimulation Reward Treasury funds and Pingjiang tribute grain in the amounts requested. In year 29 Zishe again said: "Local elders report that Fushan Pond and Dingjing lie at the same elevation; unless Fushan Pond is dredged, water will backflow into Dingjing. Both were ordered dredged together.

隆興二年八月，詔：“江、浙水利，久不講修，勢家圍田，堙塞流水。諸州守臣按視以聞。 ”於是知湖州鄭作肅、知宣州許尹、知秀州姚憲、知常州劉唐稽並乞開圍田，浚港瀆。詔湖州委朱夏卿，秀州委曾愭，平江府委陳彌作，常州、江陰軍委葉謙亨，宣州、太平州委沈樞措置。九月，刑部侍郎吳芾言：“昨守紹興，嚐請開鑒湖廢田二百七十頃，復湖之舊，水無泛濫，民田九千餘頃，悉獲倍收。今尚有低田二萬餘畝，本亦湖也，百姓交佃，畝直才兩三緡。欲官給其半，盡廢其田，去其租。 ”戶部請符浙東常平司同紹興府守臣審細標遷。從之。

In the eighth month of Longxing 2 an edict declared: "Water conservancy in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has long been neglected; powerful families' polder reclamations choke the waterways. Let prefects in every prefecture inspect on site and report. Thereupon Huzhou Prefect Zheng Zuosu, Xuanzhou Prefect Xu Yin, Xiuzhou Prefect Yao Xian, and Changzhou Prefect Liu Tangji all petitioned to break open encircled fields and dredge harbors and canals. An edict assigned Huzhou to Zhu Xiaqing, Xiuzhou to Zeng Chi, Pingjiang to Chen Mizuo, Changzhou and Jiangyin to Ye Qianheng, and Xuanzhou and Taiping to Shen Shu to take charge. In the ninth month Vice Minister of Justice Wu Bi said: "When I governed Shaoxing I once petitioned to reopen 270 qing of abandoned fields on Mirror Lake and restore the lake to its former extent; flooding ceased, and more than 9,000 qing of fields doubled their yield. More than 20,000 mu of low fields that were once lakebed remain; tenants pay only two or three strings per mu. I propose that the state pay half the value, abolish the fields entirely, and remit their rent. The Ministry of Revenue asked the Eastern Zhe ever-normal office and the Shaoxing prefect to examine the plan carefully and mark the land for restoration. The court approved.

乾道二年四月，詔漕臣王炎開浙西勢家新圍田，草蕩、荷蕩、菱蕩及陂湖溪港岸際旋築塍畦、圍裹耕種者，所至守令同共措置。炎既開諸圍田，凡租戶貸主家種糧債負，並奏蠲之。六月，知秀州孫大雅代還，言：“州有柘湖、澱山湖、當湖、陳湖，支港相貫，西北可入於江，東南可達於海。旁海農家作壩以卻堿潮，雖利及一方，而水患實害鄰郡；設疏導之，則又害及旁海之田。若於諸港浦置閘啟閉，不惟可以泄水，而旱亦獲利。然工力稍大，欲率大姓出錢，下戶出力，於農隙修治之。 ”於是以兩浙轉運副使薑詵與守臣視之，詵尋與秀常州、平江府、江陰軍條上利便。詔：“秀州華亭縣張涇閘並澱山東北通陂塘港淺處，俟今年十一月興修；江陰軍、常州蔡涇閘及申港，明年春興修；利港俟休役一年興修；平江府姑緩之。 ”三年三月，詵使還，奏：“開浚畢功，通泄積水，久浸民田露出塍岸。臣已諭民趁時耕種。恐下戶闕本，良田復荒，望令浙西常平司貸給種糧。 ”又奏措置、提督、監修等官知江陰軍徐藏等減磨勘年有差。

In the fourth month of Qiandao 2 an edict ordered Transport Commissioner Wang Yan to break open newly reclaimed polders of powerful families in western Zhe—reed flats, lotus flats, water-chestnut flats, and any pond, lake, stream, or harbor margin where dikes had been thrown up for cultivation—with local prefects and magistrates to act jointly. Once the encircled fields were opened, Yan memorialized for the remission of all tenant debts for seed grain owed to landlord households. In the sixth month Xiuzhou Prefect Sun Daya, on returning from his post, said: "The prefecture has Zhe Lake, Dianshan Lake, Dang Lake, and Chen Lake, linked by branch channels that reach the Yangzi to the northwest and the sea to the southeast. Coastal farmers build dams to hold back brackish tides, which may benefit one district but in truth harm neighboring prefectures with flooding; yet if drainage is opened, the coastal fields themselves suffer harm. If sluice gates were installed at the harbors and outlets to regulate flow, floodwater could be discharged and drought would also bring benefit. Yet the labor is considerable; he proposed that wealthy clans supply funds and common households labor, repairing in the agricultural off-season. Two Zhe Transport Vice Commissioner Jiang Shen then inspected with local officials and, with Xiuzhou, Changzhou, Pingjiang, and Jiangyin, submitted plans for each site. An edict ordered repairs at Xiuzhou Huating's Zhangjing sluice and shallow reaches northeast of Dianshan linking Pogang Harbor, to begin that November; Jiangyin and Changzhou's Caijing sluice and Shen Harbor the following spring; Ligang after one year's corvée exemption; Pingjiang deferred for the present. In the third month of year 3 Shen reported: "Dredging is complete, stored water released, and long-flooded fields have re-emerged. He had urged the people to plant in season. Fearing poor households lacked seed and good land would lie fallow again, he asked the Western Zhe ever-normal office to lend seed grain. Rewards in merit review were also granted to supervisors including Jiangyin Prefect Xu Zang.

四年，以彭州守臣梁介修復三縣一十餘堰，灌溉之利及於鄰邦，詔介直秘閣、利路轉運判官。七年，王炎言：“興元府山河堰世傳漢蕭、曹所作。本朝嘉祐中，提舉史炤上堰法，獲降敕書刻石堰上。紹興以來，戶口凋疏，堰事荒廢，遂委知興元府吳拱修復，發卒萬人助役。宣撫司及安撫、都統司共用錢三萬一千餘緡，盡修六堰，浚大小渠六十五里，凡溉南鄭、褒城田二十三萬三千畝有奇。 ”詔獎諭拱。

In year 4 Pengzhou official Liang Jie restored more than ten barrages in three counties, benefiting neighboring prefectures; he was advanced to Secretariat Drafter and Liang Road transport vice commissioner. In year 7 Wang Yan said: "Xingyuan's Mountain River Barrage is traditionally attributed to the Han ministers Xiao and Cao. In the Jiayou era Intendant Shi Zhao submitted barrage regulations and received an edict carved in stone at the site. Since Shaoxing the population has declined and the works decayed; Xingyuan Prefect Wu Gong was ordered to restore them with ten thousand laborers. Pacification offices spent 31,000-odd strings; six barrages and sixty-five li of canals were repaired, irrigating 233,000-odd mu in Nanzheng and Baocheng. An edict praised Wu Gong.

八年，戶部侍郎兼樞密都承旨葉衡言：“奉詔核實寧國府、太平州圩岸，內寧國府惠民、化城舊圩四十餘里，新築九里餘；太平州黃池鎮福定圩周四十餘里，庭福等五十四圩周一百五十餘里，包圍諸圩在內，蕪湖縣圩周二百九十餘里，通當塗圩共四百八十餘里。並高廣堅致，瀕水一岸種植榆柳，足捍風濤，詢之農民，實為永利。 ”於是詔獎諭判寧國府魏王愷，略曰：“大江之堧，其地廣袤，使水之蓄泄不病而皆為膏腴者，圩之為利也。然水土鬥齧，從昔善壞。卿聿修稼政，巨防屹然，有懷勤止，深用歎嘉。 ”九年八月，臣僚言江西連年荒旱，不能預興水利為之備。於是乃降詔曰：“朕惟旱幹、水溢之災，堯、湯盛時，有不能免。民未告病者，備先具也。豫章諸郡縣，但阡陌近水者，苗秀而實；高卬之地，雨不時至，苗輒就槁。意水利不修，失所以為旱備乎？唐韋丹為江西觀察使，治陂塘五百九十八所，灌田萬二千頃。此特施之一道，其利如此，矧天下至廣也。農為生之本也，泉流灌溉，所以毓五穀也。今諸道名山，川原甚眾，民未知其利。然則通溝瀆，瀦陂澤，監司、守令，顧非其職歟？其為朕相丘陵原隰之宜，勉農桑，盡地利，平繇行水，勿使失時。雖有豐凶，而力田者不至拱手受弊，亦天人相因之理也。朕將即勤惰而寓賞罰焉。”

In year 8 Vice Minister Ye Heng reported verification of polders in Ningguo and Taiping: Ningguo's Huimin and Huacheng old polders exceeded forty li, with nine-odd li newly built; Taiping's Fuding polder at Huangchi, fifty-four polders including Tingfu, and Wuhu and Dangtu polders totaling 480-odd li. All were high, broad, and solid, with elms and willows along the water to break wind and waves; farmers confirmed lasting benefit. Prince Wei Wang Kai, overseer of Ningguo, was praised: "Along the great river, polders turn floodlands into fertile fields when water is properly stored and released. Yet water and earth always contend, and works decay. You have tended farming policy well; great dikes stand firm; your diligence wins Our deep praise." In the eighth month of year 9 officials said Jiangxi had suffered drought for years without preparing waterworks. An edict followed: "Drought and flood afflicted even Yao and Tang at their height. Where the people do not suffer, preparations are already made. In Yuzhang, only fields near water bear full grain; on high ground, untimely rain withers the crop. Is this because waterworks lie neglected and drought preparation is lacking?" In Tang, Wei Dan as Jiangxi observation commissioner repaired 598 ponds and barrages, irrigating 12,000 qing. That was one circuit alone; how much greater the realm. Agriculture is the root of life; irrigation nurtures the five grains. Many rivers remain unused while the people do not know their benefit. Opening canals and storing marshes—is this not the duty of intendants and prefects?" Let officials survey terrain, encourage farming, use the land fully, manage corvée and waterworks, and keep to the seasons. Then even in lean years farmers need not sit idle in ruin—this is Heaven and man in harmony." We shall soon reward diligence and punish neglect."

淳熙二年，兩浙轉運判官陳峴言：“昨奉詔遍走平江府、常州、江陰軍，諭民並力開浚利港諸處，並已畢功。始欲官給錢米，歲不下數萬，今皆百姓相率效力而成。 ”詔常熟知縣劉穎特增一秩，餘論賞有差。三年，賜皇子判明州魏王愷詔曰：“陂湖川澤之利，或通或塞，存乎其人。四明為州實治鄞，鄞之鄉東西凡十四，而錢湖之水實溉其東之七。吏惰不虔，葑蕪翳，利失其舊，農人病焉。卿臨是邦，乃能講求利便而浚治之，遂使並湖七鄉之田，無異時旱幹之患，其為澤豈淺哉。剡奏徹聞，不忘嘉歎。”

In Chunxi 2 Two Zhe Transport Vice Commissioner Chen Xian reported: "Having toured Pingjiang, Changzhou, and Jiangyin to open Ligang and other works, all are complete. The state had planned tens of thousands in cash and grain yearly; instead the people rallied and finished the work themselves. Changshu Magistrate Liu Ying was specially advanced one rank; others received rewards in varying degrees. In year 3 an edict to Prince Wei Wang Kai, imperial prince overseeing Mingzhou, read: "The benefit of ponds, lakes, streams, and marshes—whether they flow freely or lie choked—depends on those who tend them. Siming Prefecture is in fact administered from Yin; Yin has fourteen townships east and west, and the waters of Qian Lake irrigate seven of those to the east. Officials grew negligent; duckweed and weeds choked the lake; its benefit dwindled from what it had been, and farmers suffered. You govern this prefecture and have sought out what was advantageous and dredged the lake, so that the fields of the seven lakeside townships no longer suffer drought as in former times. The blessing you have conferred is no small one. Your memorial has reached Us, and Our praise and admiration remain with you.

十年，大理寺丞張抑言：“陂澤湖塘，水則資之瀦泄，旱則資之灌溉。近者浙西豪宗，每遇旱歲，占湖為田，築為長堤，中植榆柳，外捍茭蘆，於是舊為田者，始隔水之出入。蘇、湖、常、秀昔有水患，今多旱災，蓋出於此。乞責縣令毋給據，尉警捕，監司覺察。有圍裹者，以違製論；給據與失察者，並坐之。 ”既而漕臣錢衝之請每圍立石以識之，共一千四百八十九所，令諸郡遵守焉。

In year 10 Dali Temple Vice Director Zhang Yi said: "Ponds, marshes, lakes, and pools serve to store and release water in flood and to irrigate in drought. Recently powerful clans in western Zhe, whenever drought comes, seize lakes for fields, build long dikes planted with elm and willow within and rushes and reeds without, so that fields that were once fields now block the movement of water altogether. Suzhou, Huzhou, Changzhou, and Xiuzhou once suffered from flood; now they suffer chiefly from drought—and the cause lies here. I ask that magistrates be forbidden to issue land certificates, assistant magistrates charged to warn and arrest offenders, and circuit intendants to investigate. whoever encircles land for reclamation shall be prosecuted for violating regulations; and those who issue certificates or fail in oversight shall be punished as well. Transport Commissioner Qian Chongzhi then petitioned that a marker stone be set up at each encircled field—1,489 sites in all—and ordered every prefecture to enforce the rule.

紹熙二年，詔守令到任半年後，具水源湮塞合開修處以聞；任滿日，以興修水利圖進，擇其勞效著明者賞之。慶元二年，戶部尚書袁說友等言：“浙西圍田相望，皆千百畝，陂塘漊瀆，悉為田疇，有水則無地可瀦，有旱則無水可戽。不嚴禁之，後將益甚，無復稔歲矣。 ”嘉泰元年，以大理司直留佑賢、宗正寺主簿李澄措置，自淳熙十一年立石之後，凡官民圍裹者盡開之。又令知縣並以“點檢圍田事”入銜，每歲三四月，同尉點檢有無奸民圍裹狀，上於州，州聞於朝。三年遣官審視，及委台諫察之。二年二月，佑賢、澄使還，奏追毀臨安、平江、嘉興，湖、常開掘戶元給佃據。三月，右正言施康年言：“近屬貴戚不體九重愛民之心，止為一家營私之計，公然投牒以沮成法，乞戒飭：自今有陳狀者，指名奏劾，必罰無赦。”

In Shaoxi 2 an edict required that six months after taking office prefects and magistrates report all choked water sources that should be opened or repaired; and on completing their terms submit maps of waterworks undertaken, with rewards for those whose achievements were outstanding. In Qingyuan 2 Minister of Revenue Yuan Shuoyou and others said: "In western Zhe encircled fields stretch from horizon to horizon, each hundreds or thousands of mu; ponds and canals have all been turned to farmland—when rain comes there is nowhere to store it, and in drought there is no water to draw. Unless this is strictly forbidden, the damage will only worsen and good harvest years will cease. In Jiatai 1 Dali Bureau Direct Clerk Liu Youxian and Imperial Clan Court Registrar Li Cheng were assigned to take charge; since the marker stones were set up in Chunxi 11, every encircled field, official or private, was broken open. Magistrates were also required to add "Inspector of Encircled Field Affairs" to their titles; each year in the third and fourth months they were to join assistant magistrates in inspecting for illegal encirclements and report to the prefecture, which reported to court. Every three years officials were dispatched to review the work, and censor-remonstrators were charged with oversight. In the second month of year 2 Youxian and Cheng returned and memorialized for the cancellation of original tenancy certificates issued to those who had opened encircled fields in Lin'an, Pingjiang, Jiaxing, Huzhou, and Changzhou. In the third month Right Remonstrance Shi Kangnian said: "Recently imperial kinsmen have shown no regard for the throne's care for the people, pursuing private gain for their households alone and openly filing petitions to obstruct established law. I beg that a warning be issued: from this day forward, whoever petitions on such matters shall be impeached by name and punished without mercy.

開禧二年，以淮農流移，無田可耕，詔兩浙州縣已開圍田，許元主復圍，專召淮農租種。嘉定三年，臣僚言：“竊聞豪民巨室並緣為奸，加倍圍裹，又影射包占水蕩，有妨農民灌溉。 ”於是復詔浙西提舉司俟農隙開掘。七年，復臨安府西湖舊界，盡蠲歲增租錢。十七年，臣僚言：“越之鑒湖，溉田幾半會稽，興化之木蘭陂，民田萬頃，歲飲其澤。今官豪侵占，填淤益狹。宜戒有司每歲省視，厚其瀦蓄，去其壅底，毋容侵占，以妨灌溉。 ”皆次第行之。

In Kaixi 2, because displaced farmers from the Huai region had no land to cultivate, an edict allowed Two Zhe prefectures and counties to let original owners re-encircle fields that had been opened and to lease them exclusively to Huai refugees for cultivation. In Jiading 3 officials reported: "We hear that wealthy clans and great estates collude in fraud, double their polder reclamations, and covertly seize water flats, obstructing irrigation for common farmers." An edict then ordered the Western Zhe intendant office to wait until the agricultural off-season and reopen the encircled fields. In year 7 Lin'an Prefecture's West Lake was restored to its former bounds, and all added annual rent was remitted in full. In year 17 officials said: "Mirror Lake in Yue irrigates nearly half of Kuaiji; Mulan Barrage in Xinghua waters ten thousand qing of farmland, and each year the people depend on its bounty." Now officials and the powerful have encroached upon them; silt has filled them in and they grow ever narrower. Responsible offices should be warned to inspect yearly, deepen storage, clear silt, forbid encroachment, and keep irrigation unimpeded. The court adopted these measures in sequence.

寶慶元年，以右諫議大夫朱端常奏，除嘉泰間已開浙西圍田租錢，蓋稅額尚存，州縣迫民白納故也。寶祐元年，史館校勘黃國麵對：“圍田自淳熙十一年識石者當存之，復圍者合權其利害輕重而為之存毀，其租或歸總所，或隸安邊所，或分隸諸郡。 ”上曰：“安邊所田，近已撥歸本所。 ”國又奏：“自丁未已來創圍之田，始因殿司獻草蕩，任事者欲因以為功，凡旱幹處悉圍之，利少害多，宜開掘以通水道。 ”上然之。咸淳十年，以江東水傷，除九年圩田租，減四分。

In Baoqing 1, on the memorial of Right Remonstrance Grandee Zhu Duanchang, rent on western Zhe polders opened in the Jiatai era was abolished, because tax quotas still stood and local officials forced the people to pay cash directly. In Baoyou 1, Hanlin Reviser Huang Guomian addressed the throne: "Polder fields marked with boundary stones since Chunxi 11 should be preserved; re-enclosures should be judged by their harm and benefit; rents may go to the General Office, the Border Pacification Office, or be divided among prefectures." The emperor said: "Fields of the Border Pacification Office have lately been returned to their original jurisdictions." Guo memorialized further: "Since the dingwei year, new polders began when the Palace Service offered reed flats and officials sought merit; every drought-prone tract was enclosed—little gain, much harm. They should be broken open to restore waterways." The emperor approved. In Xianchun 10, because Jiangdong suffered flood damage, rent on year 9 polder fields was remitted by four-tenths.

紹興二十七年，趙子潚奉詔措置鎮江府沙田，欲輕立租課，令見佃者就耕；如勢家占吝，追日前所收租利。詔速拘其田措置，蠲其冒佃之租。二十八年正月，詔戶部員外郎莫濛同浙西、江東、淮南漕臣趙子潚、鄧根、孫藎視諸路沙田、蘆場。先是，言者謂江、淮間沙田、蘆場為人冒占，歲失官課至多，故以命濛等。既而殿中侍御史葉義問言：“奉行者不恤百姓，名為經量，實逼縣官按圖約紐，惟務增數，以希進用。有力之家初無加損，貧民下戶已受其害。因小利擾之，必致逃移，坐失稅額。 ”因極論之。二月，詔：“沙田、蘆場止為勢家詭名冒占，其三等以下戶勿例根括。 ”六月，以孫藎措置沙田滅裂，罷之。詔：“浙西江東沙田、蘆場，官戶十頃、民戶二十頃以上並增租，餘如舊。置提領官田所掌之，不隸戶部。 ”二十九年，以莫濛經量沙田、蘆場失實，責監饒州景德鎮稅，遂詔盡罷所增租。

In Shaoxing 27 Zhao Zishe was ordered to arrange Zhenjiang sand fields, intending to set light rents and let current tenants farm on the spot; if powerful families hoarded land, prior rents and profits were to be recovered. An edict ordered such fields seized and arranged at once, with fraudulent tenancy rent remitted. In the first month of year 28 an edict ordered Ministry of Revenue Vice Director Mo Hong, together with western Zhe, Jiangdong, and Huainan transport commissioners Zhao Zishe, Deng Gen, and Sun Jin, to inspect sand fields and reed flats on every circuit. Earlier memorializers had said sand fields and reed flats along the Yangzi and Huai were widely fraudulently occupied, costing the state vast revenue yearly; hence Hong and others were appointed. Soon after Palace Attendant Censor Ye Yiwen said: "Those executing the order spare no thought for the people. Called a land survey, it in truth forces county officials to bind figures to maps, seeking only higher numbers for promotion." Powerful households were untouched at first; poor households and the lowest ranks already bore the harm. Harassing them for petty gain will surely drive people to flee and tax quotas will be lost. He argued the point at length. In the second month an edict declared: "Sand fields and reed flats exist chiefly for powerful families' false claims; third-rank households and below are not to be surveyed by precedent." In the sixth month Sun Jin was dismissed for slipshod handling of sand fields. An edict said: "For sand fields and reed flats in western Zhe and Jiangdong, official households of ten qing and common households of twenty qing and above shall pay increased rent; the rest remain as before." A Directorate for Overseeing Official Fields was established to manage them, outside the Ministry of Revenue. In year 29 Mo Hong was demoted to supervise Jingde Town tax in Raozhou for an untrue survey of sand fields and reed flats, and an edict abolished all increased rent.

三十二年九月，趙子潚言：“浙西、江東、淮東沙田，往年經量，有不盡不實處，為人戶包占。期以今冬自陳，給為己業，與免租稅之半；過期許人告，以全戶所租田賞之。其蘆場量力輕租。 ”詔以馮方措置。十有一月，方滋疏論沙田。上問：“沙田或以為可取，或以為可捐。 ”陳康伯等奏：“君子小人，各從其類。小人樂於生事，不惜為國斂怨；君子務存大體，唯恐有傷仁政，所以不同。 ”上然之，命止前詔勿行。

In the ninth month of year 32 Zhao Zishe said: "Sand fields in western Zhe, Jiangdong, and Huaidong—in prior surveys some tracts were not fully or accurately measured and remain occupied by households." They may report themselves by this winter, receive title as their own property, and have half their rent and tax remitted; after the deadline informers may report them and receive the entire offending household's rented fields as reward. Reed flats shall bear light rent according to their capacity. An edict ordered Feng Fang to take charge. In the eleventh month Fang Zi submitted a lengthy memorial on sand fields. The emperor asked: "Some say sand fields may be exploited; others that they should be abandoned." Chen Kangbo and others memorialized: "Gentlemen and petty men each follow their kind." Petty men delight in stirring up affairs and do not shrink from heaping resentment on the state; gentlemen strive to preserve the larger design and fear harming humane government—hence they differ. The emperor approved and ordered the prior edict withdrawn.

二十一年，以大理寺主簿丁仲京言，凡學田為勢家侵佃者，命提學官覺察。又命撥僧寺常住絕產以贍學。戶部議並撥無敕額庵院田，詔可。初，閩以福建八郡之田分三等：膏腴者給僧寺、道院，中下者給土著流寓。自劉夔為福州，始貿易取貲。迨張守帥閩，紹興二年秋。上倚以拊循凋瘵，存上等四十餘刹以待高僧，餘悉令民請買，歲入七、八萬緡以助軍衣，餘寬百姓雜科，民皆便之。

In year 21, on Dali Temple Registrar Ding Zhongjing's memorial, wherever school lands were encroached by powerful families, education officials were ordered to investigate. Monasteries' permanent heirless estates were also ordered allocated to support schools. The Ministry of Revenue proposed also allocating unchartered hermitage and cloister lands; the court approved. Initially Fujian divided the eight prefectures' fields into three grades: fertile land went to temples and abbeys; middling and lower grades to natives and migrants. From Liu Kui's term as Fuzhou prefect, the fields began to be traded for cash. When Zhang Shou took command in Fujian—in autumn of Shaoxing 2. The emperor relied on him to revive a devastated region; more than forty upper-grade monasteries were reserved for eminent monks; the rest were sold to the people, yielding seventy or eighty thousand strings yearly for military supplies while easing miscellaneous levies—the people welcomed it.

二十六年，以諸路賣官田錢七分上供，三分充常平司糴本。初，盡鬻官田，議者恐佃人失業，未賣者失租。侍御史葉義問言：“今盡鬻其田，立為正稅，田既歸民，稅又歸官，不獨絕欺隱之弊，又可均力役之法。 ”浙東刑獄使者邵大受亦乞承買官田者免物力三年至十年。一千貫以下免三年，一千貫以上五年，五千貫以上十年。於是詔所在常平沒官、戶絕田，已佃未佃、已添租未添租，並拘賣。二十九年，初，兩浙轉運司官莊田四萬二千餘畝，歲收稻、麥等四萬八千餘斛；營田九十二萬六千餘畝，歲收稻、麥、雜豆等十六萬七千餘斛，充行在馬料及糴錢。四月，詔令出賣。七月，詔諸路提舉常平官督察欺弊，申嚴賞罰。分水令張升佐、宜興令陳<辶巳>以賣田稽違，各貶秩罷任。九月，浙東提舉常平都絜以賣田最多，增一秩。三十年，詔承買荒田者免三年租。

In year 26, proceeds from selling official fields on all circuits were split: seven-tenths submitted, three-tenths reserved for ever-normal grain purchases. When full sale of official fields was first proposed, critics feared tenants would lose livelihood and unsold tracts would lose rent. Attendant Censor Ye Yiwen said: "If all such fields are sold and regular tax established, land returns to the people and revenue to the state—concealment ends and corvée can be equalized." Eastern Zhe Penal Commissioner Shao Dashou also asked that purchasers of official fields be exempt from property levies for three to ten years. Below 1,000 strings, three years; 1,000 strings and above, five years; 5,000 strings and above, ten years. An edict ordered all ever-normal confiscated and heirless official fields—tenanted or not, with added rent or without—to be sold. In year 29 the Two Zhe transport office held more than 42,000 mu of official estate fields, yielding more than 48,000 bushels of rice and wheat yearly; military colony fields exceeded 926,000 mu, yielding more than 167,000 bushels yearly for the capital's horse fodder and grain purchases. In the fourth month an edict ordered their sale. In the seventh month an edict ordered ever-normal intendants on all circuits to investigate fraud and enforce rewards and punishments. Fenshui Magistrate Zhang Shengzuo and Yixing Magistrate Chen Qian were demoted and dismissed for irregularities in the land sale. In the ninth month Eastern Zhe Ever-normal Intendant Du Jie was advanced one rank for selling the most fields. In year 30 purchasers of waste land were granted three years' rent exemption.

乾道二年，戶部侍郎曾懷言：“江西路營田四千餘頃，已佃一千九百餘頃，租錢五萬五百餘貫，若出賣，可得六萬七千餘貫；及兩浙轉運司所括已佃九十餘萬畝，合而言之，為數浩瀚。今欲遵元詔，見佃願買者減價二分。 ”詔曾懷等提領出賣，其錢輸左藏南庫別貯之。四年四月，江東路營田亦令見佃者減價承買，期以三月賣絕，八月住賣；諸路未賣營田，轉運司收租。七年，提舉浙西常平李結乞以見管營田撥歸本司，同常平田立管莊。梁克家亦奏：“戶部賣營田，率為有力者下價取之，稅入甚微，不如置官莊，歲可得五十萬斛。 ”八年，以大理寺主簿薛季宣於黃岡、麻城立官莊二十二所。九年，以司農寺丞葉翥等出賣浙東、西路諸官田，以登聞檢院張孝賁等出賣江東、西路諸官田，以郎官薛元鼎拘催江、浙、閩、廣賣官田錢四百餘萬緡。

In Qiandao 2 Vice Minister of Revenue Zeng Huai said: "Jiangxi military colony fields exceed 4,000 qing; 1,900-odd qing are tenanted, yielding 50,500-odd strings in rent—sale could bring 67,000-odd strings; together with more than 900,000 mu of tenanted fields tallied by the Two Zhe transport office—the total is vast." We propose following the original edict: current tenants who wish to buy receive a twenty-percent reduction." An edict placed Zeng Huai and others in charge of the sale; proceeds were deposited in a separate vault of the Left Treasury. In the fourth month of year 4 Jiangdong military colony fields were likewise offered to current tenants at reduced price, with three months to complete sales and sales ending in the eighth month; unsold military colony fields on all circuits were to remain under transport office rent collection. In year 7 Western Zhe Ever-normal Intendant Li Jie asked to transfer military colony fields under his office and manage them with ever-normal lands in official manors. Liang Kejia memorialized: "Ministry sales of military colony fields go chiefly to the powerful at low prices, with meager revenue. Official manors would yield five hundred thousand bushels yearly." In year 8 Dali Temple Registrar Xue Jixuan established twenty-two official manors at Huanggang and Macheng. In year 9 Agriculture Director Ye Yu sold official fields in eastern and western Zhe; Imperial Supplications Reviewer Zhang Xiaoben sold Jiangdong and Jiangxi official fields; Bureau Director Xue Yuanding collected more than four million strings from official land sales in Jiangsu, Zhe, Fujian, and Guang.

淳熙元年，臣僚言：“出賣官田，二年之間，三省、戶部困於文移，監司、州郡疲於出賣。上下督責，不為不至，始限一季，繼限一年，已賣者才十三，已輸者才十二。蓋賣產之家，無非大姓。估價之初，以上色之產，輕立價貫，揭榜之後，率先投狀；若中下之產，無人屬意，所立之價，輕重不均。莫若且令元佃之家著業輸租，數猶可得數十萬斛。 ”從之。六年，詔諸路轉運、常平司，凡沒官田、營田、沙田、沙蕩之類，復括數賣之。紹熙四年，以臣僚言住賣。慶元元年八月，江東轉運提舉司以紹熙四年住賣以後續沒官田，依鄉價復召人承買，以其錢充常平糴本。十有一月，餘端禮、鄭僑言，福建地狹人稠，無以贍養，生子多不舉。福建提舉宋之瑞乞免鬻建、劍、汀、邵沒官田，收其租助民舉子之費，詔從之。四年，詔諸路召賣不行田，復實減價，其沙礫不可新處除之。

In Chunxi 1 officials said: "Selling official fields for two years has overwhelmed the Three Departments and Ministry of Revenue with paperwork and exhausted circuit and local officials." Supervision was relentless: first one season, then one year—yet only thirteen parts were sold and only twelve paid in. Those buying were invariably great clans. At valuation, top-grade plots were priced low; after posting, great clans bid first; middling and lower plots drew no bidders, and prices were wildly uneven. Better to let original tenants farm and pay rent—yielding several hundred thousand bushels still." The court approved. In year 6 an edict ordered all circuits' transport and ever-normal offices to tally and sell confiscated official fields, military colonies, sand fields, and sand flats. In Shaoxi 4 sales were halted on officials' memorial. In the eighth month of Qingyuan 1 Jiangdong transport and ever-normal offices, for confiscated fields accruing after Shaoxi 4, again sold at village prices for ever-normal grain funds. In the eleventh month Yu Duanli and Zheng Qiao said: "Fujian is crowded on little land; families cannot support themselves and many abandon infants." Fujian Intendant Song Zhirui asked to halt sale of confiscated fields in Jian, Jianning, Ting, and Shaowu and use their rent to aid child-rearing; the court agreed. In year 4 an edict ordered circuits to cut prices on unsold summoned-sale fields and exclude barren sand and gravel tracts.

開熙三年，韓侂胄既誅，金人講解。明年，用廷臣言，置安邊所，凡侂胄與其他權幸沒入之田，及圍田、湖田之在官者皆隸焉。輸米七十二萬二千七百斛有奇，錢一百三十一萬五千緡有奇，藉以給行人金、繒之費。迨與北方絕好，軍需邊用每於此取之。

In Kaixi 3, after Han Tuozhou was executed, the Jin negotiated peace. The next year, on court advice, the Border Pacification Office was established; confiscated lands of Tuozhou and other favorites, and state polder and lake fields, were placed under it. It yielded 722,700-odd bushels of rice and 1,315,000-odd strings, supplying envoys' gold and silk expenses. When relations with the north broke off, border and military expenses were regularly drawn from it.

景定四年，殿中侍御史陳堯道、右正言曹孝慶、監察御史虞慮張晞顏等言廩兵、和糴、造楮之弊，“乞依祖宗限田議，自兩浙、江東西官民戶逾限之田，抽三分之一買充公田。得一千萬畝之田，則歲有六七百萬斛之入可以餉軍，可以免糴，可以重楮，可以平物而安富，一舉而五利具矣。 ”有旨從其言。朝士有異議者，丞相賈似道奏：“救楮之策莫切於住造楮，住造楮莫切於免和糴，免和糴莫切於買逾限田。 ”因曆詆異議者之非，帝曰：“當一意行之。 ”浙西安撫魏克愚言：“取四路民田立限回買，所以免和糴而益邦儲，議者非不自以為公且忠也。然而未見其利，而適見其害。近給事中徐經孫奏記丞相，言江西買田之弊甚詳，若浙西之弊，則尤有甚於經孫所言者。 ”因曆述其為害者八事，疏奏不省。

In Jingding 4 Palace Attendant Censor Chen Yaodao, Right Remonstrance Cao Xiaoqing, and Supervising Censors Yu Chunxi and Zhang Xiyan denounced abuses in granary troops, harmonized purchases, and note issue: "We ask to follow the ancestral limit-field plan—buy one-third of excess holdings in western Zhe and Jiangdong for public fields." Ten million mu would yield six or seven million bushels yearly to feed troops, end harmonized purchases, strengthen notes, stabilize prices, and secure prosperity—five gains at once." The throne approved. Dissenting officials were answered by Chancellor Jia Sidao: "To save paper notes, halt new issue; to halt issue, end harmonized purchase; to end harmonized purchase, buy over-limit fields." He denounced dissenters at length. The emperor said: "Execute it resolutely." Western Zhe Pacification Commissioner Wei Keyu said: "Buying back excess fields in four circuits to end harmonized purchase and fill state granaries seemed to dissenters a loyal public service." Yet benefit is nowhere seen while harm is plain. Recently Attendant Gentleman Xu Jingsun wrote the chancellor detailing abuses in Jiangxi; western Zhe's abuses exceed his account." He listed eight harms in sequence; the memorial went unheeded.

六郡回買公田，畝起租滿石者償二百貫，九鬥者償一百八十貫，八鬥者償一百六十貫，七鬥者償一百四十貫，六鬥者償一百二十貫。五千畝以上，以銀半分、官告五分、度牒三分、會子二分半；五千畝以下，以銀半分、官告三分、度牒二分、會子三分半；千畝以下，度牒、會子各半；五百畝至三百畝，全以會子。是歲，田事成，每石官給止四十貫，而半是告、牒，民持之而不得售，六郡騷然。所遣劉良貴、陳時、趙與時、廖邦傑、成公策等推賞有差。邦傑之在常州，害民特甚，民至有本無田而以歸並抑買自經者。分置莊官催租，州縣督莊官及時交收運發。

In six prefectures' public-field buyback, rent of a full shi per mu paid 200 strings; nine dou, 180; eight dou, 160; seven dou, 140; six dou, 120. For 5,000 mu and above: half silver, five-tenths office patents, three-tenths ordination certificates, two and a half-tenths treasury notes; below 5,000 mu: half silver, three-tenths patents, two-tenths certificates, three and a half-tenths notes; below 1,000 mu, certificates and notes half each; from 500 mu to 300 mu, notes only. That year the buyback was completed; payment was forty strings per shi, half in patents and certificates that people could not sell; all six prefectures were in uproar. The envoys Liu Lianggui, Chen Shi, Zhao Yushi, Liao Bangjie, Cheng Gongce, and others were promoted and rewarded in varying degrees. While Liao Bangjie held office in Changzhou he oppressed the people with particular severity. Some who had owned no land at all were driven by forced consolidation and purchase to take their own lives. Separate estate managers were installed to collect rents, and prefectures and counties were ordered to see that those managers turned in and forwarded the revenue promptly.

五年，選官充官田所分司，平江、嘉興，安吉各一員，常州、江陰、鎮江共一員，凡公田事悉以委之。是歲七月，彗見於東方。下詔求言，京學生蕭規、葉李等三學六館皆上封章；前秘書監高斯得亦應詔馳驛上封事，力陳買田之失人心、致天變；謝枋得校文江東運司，方山京校文天府，皆指陳得失。未幾，蕭規等真決黥隸，枋得、山京相繼被劾，斯得雖予郡，尋罷之。

In the fifth year officials were chosen as branch supervisors of the public-field office: one for Pingjiang, one for Jiaxing, one for Anji, and one shared by Changzhou, Jiangyin, and Zhenjiang. All matters concerning public fields were placed in their charge. In the seventh month of that year a comet appeared in the eastern sky. The court issued an edict calling for counsel, and capital students such as Xiao Gui and Ye Li from the three academies and six halls all submitted sealed memorials; the former Secretariat Director Gao Side likewise answered the summons, sending a sealed memorial by express relay in which he argued forcefully that the land purchases had alienated the people and provoked heaven's warnings; Xie Fangde, who graded examination papers for the Jiangdong transport commission, and Fang Shanqing, who graded papers for the National University, both set forth the policy's faults and merits. Before long Xiao Gui and his fellows were actually sentenced to facial tattooing and penal servitude; Fangde and Shanqing were impeached one after another; and though Side was granted a prefecture, he was soon removed.

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