Volume 177 Treatises 130: Finance and Economics 1e

食貨上五〈（役法上）〉

Finance and Economics, Part 5 (Corvée Labor Law, Part 1)

役法役出於民，州縣皆有常數。宋因前代之制，以衙前主官物，以里正、戶長、鄉書手課督賦稅，以耆長、弓手、壯丁逐捕盜賊，以承符、人力、手力、散從官給使令；縣曹司至押、錄，州曹司至孔目官，下至雜職、虞候、揀、掏等人，各以鄉戶等第定差。京百司補吏，須不礙役乃聽。

Labor service is levied upon the people, and every prefecture and county maintains fixed quotas. The Song followed earlier dynastic practice. Yamen-runner households managed official goods. Village heads, household heads, and township clerks collected and oversaw taxes. Elders, archers, and able-bodied men hunted down bandits. Commission bearers, hired laborers, hand laborers, and miscellaneous attendants were detailed to carry out official errands. Assignments ran from county clerks and jail wardens down to porters at the yamen, and from prefectural senior clerks down to night watchmen and litter carriers — all fixed according to the graded household registers of each township. When the capital's hundred offices recruited clerks, a candidate could serve only if corvée obligations did not block him.

建隆中，詔文武官、內諸司、台省、寺監、諸軍、諸使，不得占州縣課役戶，州縣不得役道路居民為遞夫。後又詔諸州職官不得私占役戶供課。京西轉運使程能請定諸州戶為九等，著於籍，上四等量輕重給役，餘五等免之，後有貧富，隨時升降。詔加裁定。淳化五年，始令諸縣以第一等戶為里正，第二等戶為戶長，勿冒名以給役。自餘眾役，多調廂軍。大中祥符五年，提點刑獄府界段惟幾發中牟縣夫二百修馬監倉。群牧製置使代以廄卒，因下詔禁之。惟詔令有大興作而後調丁夫。然役有輕重勞佚之不齊，人有貧富強弱之不一，承平既久，奸偽滋生。命官、形勢占田無限，皆得復役，衙前將吏得免里正、戶長；而應役之戶，困於繁數，偽為券售田於形勢之家，假佃戶之名，以避徭役。乾興初，始立限田法，形勢敢挾他戶田者聽人告，子所挾田三之一。

During Jianlong, the throne forbade civil and military officials, inner offices, the Secretariat, directorates, armies, and commissioners from claiming corvée households in the prefectures, and forbade counties from drafting travelers along the highways as courier bearers. A later edict also barred prefectural officials from keeping corvée households privately to furnish their coursework. Cheng Neng, transport commissioner for the Capital West Circuit, proposed grading every prefecture household into nine ranks on the register. The top four would bear corvée in proportion to their wealth; the bottom five would be exempt, with promotion and demotion adjusted as fortunes rose or fell. The throne ordered the proposal reviewed and finalized. In Chunhua 5, counties were first required to appoint first-rank households as village heads and second-rank households as household heads, and forbidden to supply corvée under borrowed names. Most other labor duties were shifted to the garrison militia. In Dazhong Xiangfu 5, Duan Weiji, judicial intendant for the capital circuit, drafted two hundred laborers from Zhongmou County to repair the horse-pasture granary. The Pasturage Commissioner substituted stable grooms instead, and the throne issued an edict banning such drafts. Corvée laborers were called up only when an edict mandated a major public works project. Yet duties varied in severity, and households varied in wealth and strength. After decades of peace, fraud flourished. Officials and local powerholders held unlimited land yet claimed exemption from corvée, while yamen-runner clerks and officers were excused from serving as village or household heads; while households liable for service, crushed by endless assignments, forged deeds selling land to powerful families and posed as tenants to escape corvée. Early in Qianxing, a limited-land law was enacted: anyone who seized another household's land could be reported, and the offender forfeited one-third of the land he had taken.

時州縣既廣，徭役益眾，太常博士範諷知廣濟軍，因言：「軍地方四十里，戶口不及一縣，而徭差與諸郡等，願復為縣。」轉運司執不可，因詔裁損役人。自是數下詔書，督州縣長吏與轉運使議蠲冗役，以寬民力。又令州縣錄丁產及所產役使，前期揭示，不實者民得自言。役之重者，自里正、鄉戶為衙前，主典府庫或輦運官物，往往破產。景祐中，稍欲寬其法，乃命募人充役。初，官八品以下死者，子孫役同編戶；至是，詔特蠲之。民避役者，或竄名浮圖籍，號為出家，趙州至千餘人，詔出家者須落發為僧，乃聽免役。禁諸縣非捕盜毋擅役壯丁。慶曆中，令京東西、河北、陝西、河東裁損役人，即給使不足，益以廂兵。既而詔諸路轉運司條析州縣差徭賦斂之數，委二府大臣裁減，科役不均，以鄉村、坊郭戶均差。時范仲淹執政，謂天下縣多，故役蕃而民瘠，首廢河南諸縣，欲以次及他州。當時以為非，未幾悉復。王逵為荊湖轉運使，率民輸錢免役，得緡錢三十萬，進為羨餘，蒙詔獎。繇是他路競為掊克以市恩。皇祐中，詔州縣里正、押司、錄事既代而令輸錢免役者，論如違制律。又禁役鄉戶為長名衙前。

By then prefectures and counties had multiplied and corvée burdens had grown. Fan Feng, an Erudite of the Imperial Sacrifices serving as magistrate of Guangji Army, petitioned: "Our district covers only forty li and has fewer households than a single county, yet our corvée assignments match those of full prefectures. We ask to be reduced again to county status." The transport commissioner refused, but the throne ordered corvée quotas cut instead. Thereafter edicts repeatedly urged prefectural and county leaders, together with transport commissioners, to abolish redundant corvée and ease the people's burdens. Prefectures and counties were also required to register each household's property and corvée obligations, post the lists in advance, and allow the people to challenge false entries. The heaviest duties — village head, household head, and especially yamen-runner service managing granaries or hauling official goods — often drove families to ruin. During Jingyou the court sought modest relief and allowed corvée to be filled by hired substitutes. Previously, when an official of eighth rank or below died, his descendants bore corvée like ordinary registered households; now an edict specially exempted them. To evade corvée, some households entered their names on Buddhist rolls and claimed to have "left home"; Zhao Prefecture alone had more than a thousand such cases. An edict required them actually to shave their heads and become monks before exemption would be granted. Counties were forbidden to draft able-bodied men except for bandit suppression. During Qingli, the eastern and western capital circuits, Hebei, Shaanxi, and Hedong were ordered to cut corvée quotas; where labor still fell short, garrison militia were added. An edict then required every transport commissioner to itemize corvée and tax levies in his circuit and submit them to grandees of the Two Departments for reduction. Uneven assignments were to be equalized across rural and urban households. Fan Zhongyan, then in power, argued that the empire had too many counties, multiplying corvée and impoverishing the people. He began by abolishing several counties in Henan and hoped to extend the policy elsewhere. Critics deemed the move misguided, and within a short time every county was restored. Wang Kui, transport commissioner for Jinghu, collected cash from the people in lieu of corvée, turned in three hundred thousand strings as surplus revenue, and received an imperial commendation. Other circuits then competed to squeeze the people in order to win favor at court. In Huangyou, an edict declared that any prefecture or county that, after a village head, bailiff, or recorder had finished his term, accepted cash to excuse him from further service would be prosecuted for violating imperial regulations. The court also forbade assigning township households to standing yamen-runner posts.

初，知并州韓琦上疏曰：「州縣生民之苦，無重於里正衙前。有孀母改嫁，親族分居；或棄田與人，以免上等；或非命求死，以就單丁。規圖百端，苟免溝壑之患。每鄉被差疏密，與資力高下不均。假有一縣甲乙二鄉，甲鄉第一等戶十五戶，計資為錢三百萬，乙鄉第一等戶五戶，計貲為錢五十萬；番休遞役，即甲鄉十五年一周，乙鄉五年一周。富者休息有餘，貧者敗亡相繼，豈朝廷為民父母意乎？請罷里正衙前，命轉運司以州軍見役人數為額，令、佐視五等簿，通一縣計之，籍皆在第一等，選資最高者一戶為鄉戶衙前，後差人放此。即甲縣戶少而役蕃，聽差乙縣戶多而役簡者。簿書未盡實，聽換取他戶。里正主督租賦，請以戶長代之，二年一易。」下其議京畿、河北、河東、陝西、京東西轉運司度利害，皆以為便。而知制誥韓絳、蔡襄極論江南、福建里正衙前之弊，絳請行鄉戶五則之法，襄請以產錢多少定役重輕。至和中，命絳、襄與三司置司參定，繼遣尚書都官員外郎吳幾復趨江東，殿中丞蔡稟趨江西，與長吏、轉運使議可否。因請行五則法，凡差鄉戶衙前，視資產多寡置籍，分為五則，又第其役輕重放此。假有第一等重役十，當役十人，列第一等戶百；第二等重役五，當役五人，列第二等戶五十，以備十番役使。藏其籍通判治所，遇差人，長吏以下同按視之，轉運使、提點刑獄察其違慢。遂更著淮南、江南、兩浙、荊湖、福建之法，下三司頒焉。

Earlier, Han Qi, prefect of Bingzhou, memorialized: "No burden on the people in prefecture and county is heavier than service as village head or yamen runner. Some have widows remarry and kin divide their households; others will abandon fields to escape top-rank classification; still others court death to leave only a single adult male in the household. They contrive every imaginable scheme merely to avoid ruin. Assignment density varies from township to township, as does the distribution of wealth. Suppose one county has Townships A and B. Township A has fifteen first-rank households worth three million cash in all; Township B has five first-rank households worth five hundred thousand. Under the rotation system, Township A would complete one full cycle in fifteen years, Township B in only five. The wealthy enjoy long reprieves while the poor are ruined in succession. Is this how the court acts as parent to the people? I ask that village head and yamen-runner duties be abolished. Let transport commissioners set quotas from current corvée rolls. Magistrates and assistants should review the five-grade register for the whole county, list only first-rank households, and select the wealthiest as township yamen runner, with later assignments following the same rule. If one county has few households but heavy corvée, households from a neighboring county with many households but lighter duties may be assigned. If the register is inaccurate, another household may be substituted. Village heads now supervise tax collection; let household heads replace them on a two-year rotation." The proposal was referred to transport commissioners in the capital circuit, Hebei, Hedong, Shaanxi, and the eastern and western capital circuits; all reported it would be beneficial. Han Jiang and Cai Xiang, drafters of edicts, meanwhile detailed the abuses of village head and yamen-runner duty in Jiangnan and Fujian. Jiang proposed the five-category township method; Xiang proposed scaling corvée by property-tax liability. In Zhihe, Jiang and Xiang were ordered, together with the Three Departments, to establish a review office. Wu Jifu of the Ministry of Revenue was sent to Jiangdong and Cai Bing to Jiangxi to consult local officials and transport commissioners. They proposed the five-category method: for every township yamen-runner assignment, households would be registered in five categories according to wealth, and corvée duties ranked by severity in the same way. Suppose ten heavy first-grade duties each require one man: register one hundred first-grade households; five heavy second-grade duties requiring five men: register fifty second-grade households, enough for ten rotations. Registers were kept at the vice-prefect's office. Assignments were made jointly by the magistrate and his staff; transport commissioners and judicial intendants monitored delays and abuse. Revised regulations for Huainan, Jiangnan, the two Zhe circuits, Jinghu, and Fujian were then promulgated through the Three Departments.

自罷里正衙前，民稍休息。又詔諸路轉運司、開封府界訪衙前之役有重為害者條奏之；能件悉便利、大去勞弊者議賞。置寬恤民力司，遣使四出。自是州縣力役多所裁損，凡二萬三千六百二十二人。

After village head and yamen-runner duties were abolished, the people gained some relief. Another edict ordered transport commissioners and the Kaifeng metropolitan district to report any yamen-runner duties that were especially burdensome; and to recommend rewards for officials who could itemize practical reforms and greatly reduce abuse. A Bureau to Relieve the People's Burdens was established, and envoys were dispatched throughout the realm. Thereafter prefectures and counties cut corvée assignments by twenty-three thousand six hundred twenty-two persons in all.

治平四年，詔曰：「農，天下之大本也。間因水旱，頗致流離，殆州郡差役之法甚煩，其詔中外臣庶條陳利害以聞。」先是，三司使韓絳言：「聞京東民有父子二丁將為衙前役者，其父告其子曰『吾當求死，使汝曹免於凍餒』，遂自縊而死。又聞江南有嫁其祖母及與母析居以避役者，又有鬻田減其戶等者。田歸官戶不役之家，而役並於同等見存之戶。望博訪利害，集議裁定，使力役無偏重之寄。」役法更議始此。

In Zhiping 4, an edict declared: "Agriculture is the foundation of the realm. Floods and droughts have lately driven many from their homes, perhaps because corvée assignment in the prefectures has grown too burdensome. Let officials at court and in the provinces submit detailed proposals on the benefits and harms of reform." Earlier, Han Jiang, commissioner of the Three Departments, reported: "In the eastern capital circuit a father and son, both adult males, were about to be assigned yamen-runner duty. The father told his sons, 'I shall seek death so that you may escape hunger and cold,' and hanged himself. In Jiangnan, I am told, some men married off grandmothers or split households with their mothers to evade corvée; others sold land to lower their household rank. The land passed to official households exempt from corvée, while the corvée burden fell entirely on the remaining households of the same rank. I ask that benefit and harm be thoroughly investigated, deliberated, and settled so that labor duties no longer fall with crushing weight on a few." This was the beginning of the renewed debate over corvée law.

熙寧元年，知諫院吳充言：「今鄉役之中，衙前為重。民間規避重役，土地不敢多耕，而避戶等；骨肉不敢義聚，而憚人丁。故近年上戶浸少，中下戶浸多，役使頻仍，生資不給，則轉為工商，不得已而為盜賊。宜早定鄉役利害，以時施行。」後帝閱內藏庫奏，有衙前越千里輸金七錢，庫吏邀乞，逾年不得還者。帝重傷之，乃詔製置條例司講立役法。二年，遣劉彝、謝卿材、侯叔獻、程顥、盧秉、王汝翼、曾伉、王廣廉八人行諸路，相度農田水利、稅賦科率、徭役利害。

In Xining 1, Wu Chong, director of the Remonstrance Bureau, said: "Among township corvée duties today, yamen-runner service is the heaviest burden. To escape heavy duties, people dare not cultivate all their land and scheme to lower their household rank; relatives dare not live together and dread adding adult males to the household. Upper households have therefore grown fewer while middle and lower households have multiplied. Corvée assignments come in relentless succession; when livelihoods fail, people turn to trade and crafts, and in desperation become bandits. Township corvée should be reformed promptly and put into effect without delay." Later, reviewing memorials from the Inner Treasury, the emperor read of a yamen runner who had carried seven cash of gold more than a thousand li. Treasury clerks detained and extorted him, and for more than a year he could not return home. Deeply moved, the emperor ordered the Regulatory Affairs Commission to draft a new corvée law. In the second year, eight officials — Liu Yi, Xie Qingcai, Hou Shuxian, Cheng Hao, Lu Bing, Wang Ruyi, Zeng Kang, and Wang Guanglian — were dispatched through every circuit to survey farmland, waterworks, tax levies, and corvée burdens.

條例司檢詳文字蘇轍言：「役人之不可不用鄉戶，猶官吏之不可不用士人也。今遂欲兩稅之外別立一科，謂之庸錢，以備官雇，不問戶之高低，例使出錢，上戶則便，下戶實難。」轍以議不合罷。

Su Zhe, text reviewer for the Regulatory Affairs Commission, argued: "Corvée laborers, like officials, must be drawn from local households — the one from the villages, the other from the literati. Now you propose a new levy beyond the two-tax system, called service money, to fund official hiring. Every household would pay regardless of rank. That suits the wealthy, but would crush the poor." Su Zhe was dismissed because his views did not accord with the commission's.

條例司言：「使民出泉雇役，即先王致民財以祿庶人在官者之意，願以條目遣官分行天下，博盡眾議。」於是條諭諸路曰：「衙前既用重難分數，凡買撲酒稅坊場，舊以酬衙前者，從官自賣，以其錢同役錢隨分數給之。其廂鎮場務之類，舊酬獎衙前、不可令民買占者，即用舊定分數為投名衙前酬獎。如部水陸運及領倉驛、場務、公使庫之類，其舊煩擾且使陪備者，今當省使毋費。承符、散從官等舊苦重役償欠者，今當改法除弊，庶使無困。凡有產業物力而舊無役者，今當出泉以助役。」久之，司農寺言：「今立役條，所寬優者，皆村鄉樸蠢不能自達之窮氓；所裁取者，乃仕宦兼並能致人言之豪右。若經制一定，則衙司縣吏無以施誅求巧舞之奸，故新法之行尤所不便。欲先自一兩州為始，候其成就，即令諸州軍仿視施行，若實便百姓，當特獎之。」詔可。

The Regulatory Affairs Commission argued: "Letting the people pay cash to hire corvée labor fulfills the ancient kings' intent to use the people's wealth to support those who serve the state. We ask that officials carry these regulations throughout the realm and gather every opinion." Regulations were then issued to every circuit: "Yamen runners will be ranked by the severity of their duties. Wine-tax franchises and market stalls formerly granted as compensation to yamen runners will be sold by the government, and the proceeds, together with corvée funds, distributed by rank. Garrison-town market offices and similar posts that formerly rewarded yamen runners but could not be privately purchased will continue to serve as compensation for registered yamen runners at the old fixed rates. Duties such as supervising water and land transport, managing granaries, post stations, market offices, and public envoy storehouses — formerly burdensome and requiring runners to cover losses — will be streamlined so runners need not pay out of pocket. Commission bearers and miscellaneous attendants who formerly suffered under heavy corvée and debt repayment will be relieved by revised regulations. Households with property who formerly bore no corvée must now contribute cash toward hiring labor." After some time the Ministry of Agriculture observed: "The new corvée regulations chiefly benefit the simple poor of the villages who cannot speak for themselves; while those who lose privilege are the powerful officials and great landholders who can make their voices heard at court. Once the regulations are fixed, yamen and county clerks will no longer be able to extort and manipulate assignments — which is why they resist the new law most fiercely. We propose to begin in one or two prefectures. Once the results are clear, other districts may follow. Officials who truly benefit the people should receive special rewards." The throne approved.

於是提點府界公事趙子幾奏上府界所在條目，下之司農，詔判寺鄧綰、曾布更議之。綰、布言：「畿內鄉戶，計產業若家資之貧富，上下分為五等。歲以夏秋隨等輸錢，鄉戶自四等、坊郭自六等以下勿輸。兩縣有產業者，上等各隨縣，中等並一縣輸。析居者隨所析而定、降其等。若官戶、女戶、寺觀、未成丁，減半輸。皆用其錢募三等以上稅戶代役，隨役重輕制祿。開封縣戶二萬二千六百有奇，歲輸錢萬二千九百緡。以萬二百為祿，贏其二千七百，以備凶荒欠閣，他縣仿此。」然輸錢計等高下，而戶等著籍，昔緣巧避失實。乃詔責郡縣，坊郭三年，鄉村五年，農隙集眾，稽其物產，考其貧富，察其詐偽，為之升降；若故為高下者，以違制論。

Zhao Ziji, judicial intendant for metropolitan affairs, then submitted regulations for the capital district. The Ministry of Agriculture received them, and Deng Guan and Zeng Bu were ordered to revise the plan. Guan and Bu proposed: "Within the capital region, township households should be ranked in five grades according to property and household wealth. Each year they would pay in summer and autumn according to rank. Township households below the fourth grade and urban households below the sixth grade would be exempt. Households with property in two counties would pay as upper-grade households in each county, but middle-grade households in a single county only. Households that split would be ranked according to the divided property and their grade lowered accordingly. Official households, female-headed households, temples, and minors would pay half the standard rate. The funds would hire third-grade and higher tax-paying households to perform corvée in their place, with compensation scaled to the severity of each duty. Kaifeng County had more than 22,600 households, paying 12,900 strings of cash per year. 10,200 strings funded salaries; the remaining 2,700 were held in reserve against flood, drought, and arrears. Other counties followed the same pattern." Yet payments depended on household rank, and the registers had long been distorted by evasion. An edict ordered prefectures and counties to reassess ranks every three years in urban wards and every five years in villages. During the agricultural off-season they were to assemble the people, audit property, weigh wealth and poverty, detect fraud, and adjust ranks accordingly; anyone who deliberately manipulated ranks would be prosecuted for violating imperial regulations.

募法：三人相任，衙前仍供物產為抵；弓手試武藝，典吏試書計；以三年或二年乃更。為法既具，揭示一月，民無異辭，著為令。令下，募者執役，被差者得散去。開封一府罷衙前八百三十人，畿縣鄉役數千，遂頒其法於天下。

Recruitment rules: three men would guarantee one another; yamen runners still posted property as security; archers were tested in martial skill and clerks in writing and accounts; terms ran two or three years before rotation. When the regulations were complete, they were posted for a month. The people raised no objections, and the rules were promulgated as law. Once the law took effect, hired substitutes took up duty and previously assigned households were released. Kaifeng prefecture alone released 830 yamen runners; capital counties released thousands more from township corvée. The law was then extended empire-wide.

天下土俗不同，役重輕不一，民貧富不等，從所便為法。凡當役人戶，以等第出錢，名免役錢。其坊郭等第戶及未成丁、單丁、女戶、寺觀、品官之家，舊無色役而出錢者，名助役錢。凡敷錢，先視州若縣應用雇直多少，隨戶等均取；雇直既已用足，又率其數增取二分，以備水旱欠閣，雖增毋得過二分，謂之免役寬剩錢。

Local customs varied across the empire, as did the severity of corvée and the distribution of wealth; each region adapted the law to local conditions. Households liable for corvée paid according to rank; this levy was called the exemption-from-corvée fee. Urban households, minors, single adult males, female-headed households, temples, and ranked official families — who formerly bore no corvée but now contributed cash — paid what was called the assistance corvée fee. Assessments were based first on the hiring wages each prefecture or county required, then levied evenly by household rank; once hiring costs were covered, an additional twenty percent was collected for reserves against flood, drought, and arrears — never exceeding twenty percent — called the exemption surplus fund.

三年，命集賢校理呂惠卿同判司農寺，已而林旦、曾布相繼典主其事。四年，罷許州衙前幹公使庫，以軍校主之，月給食錢三千。後行於諸路，人皆便之。

In year three, Lü Huiqing of the Hall of Assembled Talents was appointed associate director of the Ministry of Agriculture; Lin Dan and Zeng Bu later succeeded him in charge of the program. In year four, Xu Prefecture replaced yamen runners at the public envoy storehouse with military officers paid 3,000 cash per month for provisions. The practice was later extended to every circuit and was widely welcomed.

兩浙提點刑獄王庭光、提舉常平張靚率民助役錢至七十萬。薛向為帝言，帝問王安石，安石曰：「提舉官據數取之，朝廷以恩惠科減，於體為順。」御史中丞楊繪亦言：「靚等科配民輸錢，多者一戶至三百千，乞少裁損，以安民心。」五月，東明縣民數百詣開封府訴超升等第，不受，遂突入王安石私第，安石諭以相府不知；訴之御史臺，台不受訴，諭令散去。楊繪又言：「司農寺不用舊則，自據戶數創立助役錢等第，下縣令著之籍，如酸棗縣升戶等皆失實。」帝乃命提點司究所從升降，仍嚴升降之法，畿民不願輸錢免役，縣按所當供役歲月，如期役之，與免輸錢。先是，帝既知東明事，及聞繪言，兩降手敕問王安石曰：「酸棗既有自下戶升入上戶，則四等有免輸役錢之名，而無其實。」安石力言嘗取諸縣新舊籍對覆升降，聞外間扇搖役法者，謂輸多必有贏餘，若群訴必可免，彼既聚眾僥幸，苟受其訴，與免輸錢，當仍役之。帝乃盡用其言。

Wang Tingguang, judicial intendant for the two Zhe circuits, and Zhang Jing, Ever-Normal intendant, collected 700,000 strings in assistance corvée fees from the people. When Xue Xiang reported this to the emperor, the emperor asked Wang Anshi. Anshi replied: "The intendants collected according to the assessed amounts; the court can reduce the levy as an act of grace. That is proper procedure." Censor-in-Chief Yang Hui also urged: "Jing and others have apportioned payments so heavily that some households owe as much as 300,000 cash. I ask that the levies be trimmed to reassure the people." In the fifth month, several hundred Dongming County residents petitioned Kaifeng Prefecture against inflated household ranks. When their petition was rejected, they stormed Wang Anshi's home. Anshi told them the chief councilor's office knew nothing of the matter; they then appealed to the Censorate, which also refused the case and ordered them to disperse. Yang Hui added: "The Ministry of Agriculture ignored old rules, invented new assistance-fee ranks from raw household counts, and ordered counties to register them. In Zaozao County, for example, rank promotions were wholly fictitious." The emperor ordered the intendant office to investigate every rank change and tighten the rules. Capital-region residents who preferred corvée to cash payments could serve on the scheduled months and be exempted from the fee. The emperor, already aware of the Dongming affair, twice sent handwritten edicts to Wang Anshi after hearing Yang Hui: "If Zaozao County is promoting lower households to upper rank, fourth-grade households have the name of exemption without the benefit." Anshi insisted he had cross-checked old and new registers in every county. Agitators outside court, he said, were telling people that heavy payments meant surplus funds and that mass petitions would win exemption. If the throne indulged such opportunistic crowds, they should still be required to perform corvée in person. The emperor accepted his argument in full.

中書孫迪、張景溫體量不願出錢之民，欲困以重役，楊繪復論之。而監察御史劉摯謂：「昨者團結保甲，民方驚擾，又作法使人均出緡錢，非時升降戶等，期會急迫，人情惶駭。」因陳新法十害，其要曰：「上戶常少，中下戶常多，故舊法上戶之役類皆數而重，下戶之役率常簡而輕；今不問上下戶，概視物力以差出錢，故上戶以為幸，而下戶苦之。歲有豐凶，而役人有定數，助錢歲不可闕，則是賦稅有時減閣，而助錢更無蠲損也。役人必用鄉戶，為其有常產則自重，今既招雇，恐止得浮浪奸偽之人，則帑庾、場務、綱運不惟不能典幹，竊恐不勝其盜用而冒法者眾；至於弓手、耆、壯、承符、散從、手力、胥史之類，恐遇寇則有縱逸，因事輒為搔擾也。司農新法，衙前不差鄉戶，其舊嘗願為長名者，聽仍其舊，卻用官自召賣酒稅坊場并州縣坊郭人戶助役錢數，酬其重難，惟此一法，有若可行；然坊郭十等戶，緩急科率，郡縣賴之，難更使之均出助錢。乞詔有司，若坊場錢可足衙前雇直，則詳究條目，徐行而觀之。」帝因安石進呈役錢文字，謂之曰：「民供稅斂已重，坊郭及官戶等不須減，稅戶升等事更與少裁之。」安石曰：「朝廷製法，當斷以義，豈須規規恤淺近之人議論耶？」

Sun Di and Zhang Jingwen of the Central Secretariat investigated residents who refused to pay cash and proposed burdening them with heavier corvée. Yang Hui protested again. Supervising Censor Liu Zhi said: "The people were only just alarmed by the baojia militia system. Now everyone is forced to pay cash, household ranks are changed out of season, and deadlines are brutally tight. The populace is in terror." He then listed ten harms of the new laws. In essence: "Upper households are always few and lower ones many. Under the old law, upper households bore numerous heavy duties while lower ones bore few light ones; now, without regard to rank, everyone pays according to property. The wealthy consider themselves fortunate; the poor are crushed. Harvests vary, yet corvée quotas and assistance fees are fixed. Taxes may be reduced in bad years, but assistance fees are never waived. Corvée workers should be drawn from local households with fixed property, who restrain themselves. Hired substitutes will be drifters and frauds. Treasuries, market offices, and transport convoys will not be properly managed, and theft and lawbreaking will multiply; as for archers, elders, stalwart youth, commission bearers, attendants, hand laborers, and clerks — they may grow lax in emergencies and harass the people at every opportunity. Under the Ministry's new law, yamen runners are no longer drafted from townships; those who once held standing posts may keep them, compensated from government sale of wine franchises and urban assistance fees. Only this element seems workable; yet the ten urban household grades supply emergency levies on which prefectures depend. It will be hard to make them pay assistance fees as well. I ask that if franchise revenues can fully fund yamen-runner wages, the regulations be reviewed in detail and implemented gradually." When Wang Anshi presented the corvée-fee regulations, the emperor told him: "The people's tax burdens are already heavy. Do not reduce fees for urban wards and official households, but cut back somewhat on rank promotions for tax-paying households." Anshi replied: "When the court makes law, it must decide by principle. Why fuss over the shallow complaints of petty men?"

於是提點趙子幾怒知東明縣賈蕃不能禁遏縣民來訟，雜摭他事致蕃於理。又使子幾自鞫之。楊繪謂是希安石意指，而致縣令於罪也。即疏辨之曰：「子幾若劾蕃五月十日前事，臣固無言；若所劾後乎此日，是以威脅令佐使民不得赴訴，得為便乎？」又言：「助役之利一，而難行有五。請先言其利：假如民田有一家而百頃者，亦有戶才三頃者，其等乃俱在第一，以百頃而較三頃，則已三十倍矣，而受役月日，均齊無異；況如官戶，則除耆長外皆應無役，今例使均出雇錢，則百頃所輸必三十倍於三頃者，而又永無決射之訟，此其利也。然難行之說亦有五：民惟種田，而責其輸錢，錢非田之所出，一也。近邊州軍，就募者非土著，奸細難防，二也。逐處田稅，多少不同，三也。耆長雇人，則盜賊難止，四也。衙前雇人，則失陷官物，五也。乞先議防此五害，然後著為定制，仍先戒農寺無欲速就以祈恩賞，提舉司無得多取於民以自為功，如此則誰復妄議。」

Judicial Intendant Zhao Ziji, furious that Magistrate Jia Fan of Dongming County had failed to stop the petitioners, fabricated other charges and brought him to trial. He even ordered Ziji to interrogate Fan personally. Yang Hui said this was done to please Wang Anshi by punishing the magistrate. He memorialized in defense: "If Ziji impeaches Fan for matters before the tenth day of the fifth month, I have no objection; but if the charges concern events after that date, is it acceptable to intimidate officials so the people cannot petition?" He added: "Assistance corvée has one benefit and five difficulties. The benefit first: suppose one household holds a hundred qing and another only three, yet both rank in the first grade. Under the old rotation system they served the same months of corvée — a thirtyfold disparity; official households, except elders, were formerly exempt. Now the hundred-qing household pays thirty times what the three-qing household pays, and rotation disputes end forever. That is the benefit. The five difficulties: farmers are required to pay cash, but cash does not grow in fields — first. On the frontier, recruits are not natives and spies are hard to detect — second. Land-tax rates vary from place to place — third. If elders hire substitutes, banditry will be hard to suppress — fourth. If yamen runners hire substitutes, official goods will be lost — fifth. Guard against these five harms first, then enact permanent regulations. Warn the Ministry of Agriculture not to rush for rewards and intendants not to over-collect for personal credit — then who will complain without cause?"

劉摯亦言：「趙子幾以他事捃摭賈蕃為過，且變更役法，意欲便民，民苟以為有利害也，安可禁其所欲言！今因畿民有訴，而刻薄之人，反怒縣官不能禁遏。臣恐四遠人情，必疑朝廷欲鉗天下之口，而職在主民者，必皆視蕃為戒，則天下休戚，陛下何由知之？子幾挾情之罪，伏請付吏部施行。」

Liu Zhi also said: "Zhao Ziji fabricated charges against Jia Fan while reforming corvée law to benefit the people. If the people see benefit and harm in the law, how can their speech be forbidden? Now, because capital residents petitioned, harsh officials are angry that the magistrate failed to silence them. I fear people everywhere will suspect the court means to silence the realm. Officials charged with governing the people will take Fan as a warning. How then will Your Majesty learn the people's joys and sorrows? I ask that Ziji's abuse of authority be referred to the Ministry of Personnel for punishment."

於是同判司農寺曾布摭繪、摯所言而條奏辨詰之，其略曰：

Associate director Zeng Bu of the Ministry of Agriculture then gathered the arguments of Yang Hui and Liu Zhi and rebutted them item by item. In summary:

畿內上等戶盡罷昔日衙前之役，故今所輸錢比舊受役時，其費十減四五；中等人戶舊充弓手、手力、承符、戶長之類，今使上等及坊郭、寺觀、單丁、官戶皆出錢以助之，故其費十減六七；下等人戶盡除前日冗役，而專充壯丁，且不輸一錢，故其費十減八九。大抵上戶所減之費少，下戶所減之費多。言者謂優上戶而虐下戶，得聚斂之謗，臣所未諭也。

In the capital region, upper households no longer serve as yamen runners. Their cash payments are forty to fifty percent below what corvée once cost them; middle households once served as archers, hand laborers, commission bearers, and household heads. Now upper households, urban wards, temples, single adult males, and official households contribute toward hiring substitutes, cutting middle-household costs by sixty to seventy percent; lower households shed redundant duties, serve only as stalwart youth, and pay nothing — an eighty to ninety percent reduction. In short, upper households save less in absolute terms; lower households save far more. Critics claim the law favors the wealthy and oppresses the poor, inviting charges of extortion. I do not understand that charge.

提舉司以諸縣等第不實，故首立品量升降之法，開封府、司農寺方奏議時，蓋不知已嘗增減舊數。然舊敕每三年一造簿書，等第嘗有升降，則今品量增減亦未為非；又況方曉諭民戶，苟有未便，皆與厘正，則凡所增減，實未嘗行。言者則以謂品量立等者，蓋欲多斂雇錢，升補上等以足配錢之數。至於祥符等縣，以上等人戶數多減充下等，乃獨掩而不言，此臣所未諭也。

Because county registers were inaccurate, intendants first established rank-assessment procedures. When Kaifeng Prefecture and the Ministry of Agriculture were deliberating, they may not have known ranks had already been adjusted. Yet old regulations required new registers every three years with rank adjustments. Today's reassessments are therefore not improper; moreover households were being instructed, and any inconvenience was corrected. In fact, most adjustments were never implemented. Critics say rank assessments were designed chiefly to collect more hiring fees by promoting households to upper grades. In Xiangfu and other counties, many upper households were demoted to lower rank — a fact critics conceal. I do not understand that omission.

凡州縣之役，無不可募人之理。今投名衙前半天下，未嘗不典主倉庫、場務、綱運；而承符、手力之類，舊法皆許雇人，行之久矣；惟耆長、壯丁，以今所措置最為輕役，故但輪差鄉戶，不復募人。言者則以謂衙前雇人，則失陷官物；耆長雇人，則盜賊難止；又以謂近邊奸細之人應募，則焚燒倉庫，或守把城門，則恐潛通外境，此臣所未諭也。

In principle, every prefectural and county duty can be filled by hired labor. Registered yamen runners across half the empire routinely manage granaries, market offices, and transport convoys; commission bearers and hand laborers have long been permitted to hire substitutes under old law; only elders and stalwart youth, being the lightest duties under the new system, are still assigned by rotation among township households rather than hired out. Critics say hiring substitutes for yamen runners will lose official goods; hiring substitutes for elders will fail to stop bandits; they also fear frontier spies will burn granaries or open city gates to the enemy. I do not understand these fears.

免役或輸見錢，或納斛斗，皆從民便，為法至此，亦已周矣。言者則謂直使輸錢，則絲帛粟麥必賤；若用他物準直為錢，則又退揀乞索，且為民害。如此則當如何而可？此臣所未諭也。

The exemption fee may be paid in cash or grain, whichever suits the people. The law is already comprehensive. Critics say requiring cash payment will depress prices for silk, cloth, millet, and wheat; if goods are accepted in lieu of cash, officials will reject, select, and extort — harming the people. What then is to be done? I do not see the dilemma.

昔之徭役皆百姓所為，雖凶荒饑饉，未嘗罷役；今役錢必欲稍有餘羨，乃所以為凶年蠲減之備，其餘又專以興田利、增吏祿。言者則以謂助錢非如稅賦有倚閣減放之期，臣不知昔之衙前、弓手、承符、手力之類，亦嘗倚閣減放否？此臣所未諭也。

Under the old system the people performed corvée in person; even in famine years, corvée was never suspended; now a modest surplus is deliberately retained as a reserve for reductions in bad years; the remainder funds farmland projects and clerks' salaries. Critics say assistance fees lack the tax system's deferrals and reductions. Did yamen runners, archers, commission bearers, and hand laborers ever receive such relief under the old system? I do not understand that objection either.

兩浙一路，戶一百四十餘萬，所輸緡錢七十萬爾；而畿內戶十六萬，率緡錢亦十六萬。是兩浙所輸才半畿內，然畿內用以募役，所餘亦自無幾。言者則以謂吏緣法意，廣收大計，如兩浙欲以羨錢徼幸，司農欲以出剩為功，此臣所未諭也。

The two Zhe circuits, with more than 1.4 million households, collected only 700,000 strings; while the capital region, with 160,000 households, collected about 160,000 strings. Two Zhe therefore paid only half what the capital region collected per household, and the capital region spent nearly all of it on hiring labor, leaving little surplus. Critics claim officials exploited the law to collect excessively — Two Zhe seeking favor through surplus funds, the Ministry of Agriculture seeking credit through over-collection. I do not understand that charge.

賈蕃為令，不受民訴，使趨京師喧嘩，其意必有謂也。誠令用心無他，亦可謂不職矣。蕃之不職不法，其狀甚眾，皆趙子幾所不得不問；御史之言，欲舍蕃而治子幾，是不顧陛下之法、陛下之民，宜莫如蕃與御史也。

As magistrate, Jia Fan refused the people's petitions and drove them to clamor in the capital — he surely had his reasons. Even if his motives were pure, he was still derelict in duty. Fan's dereliction and lawlessness were numerous; Zhao Ziji could not fail to investigate them; the censors wish to abandon Fan and punish Ziji instead — disregarding Your Majesty's laws and people. Fan and the censors are the ones at fault.

於是下其疏於繪、摯，使各言狀。

The memorial was then sent to Yang Hui and Liu Zhi, ordering each to state his case.

繪錄前後四奏以自辨。摯言：「助役斂錢之法，有大臣及御史主之於內，有大臣親黨為監司、提舉官而行之於諸路，其勢順易矣；然曠日彌年，終未有定論，為不順乎民心而已。陛下以司農為是耶，則事盡前奏，可以覆視；以臣言為非耶，則貶黜而已。雖復使臣言之，亦不過所謂十害者，而風憲之官，豈當與有司較是非勝負耶？」詔繪知鄭州；摯落館閣校勘、監察御史裏行，監衡州鹽倉。

Yang Hui recorded his four prior memorials in self-defense. Zhi said: "The assistance-fee system has powerful ministers and censors directing it at court and their kin serving as circuit supervisors and intendants in the provinces. The momentum favors its advocates; yet years have passed without resolution — solely because it does not accord with popular sentiment. If Your Majesty sides with the Ministry of Agriculture, review the prior memorials; if my words are wrong, demote me and be done with it. Even if I speak again, I would only repeat the so-called ten harms. Should censorial officials really wrangle over right and wrong with the executive agencies? An edict appointed Yang Hui prefect of Zhengzhou; Liu Zhi was stripped of his posts as Hanlin collation reviewer and junior investigative censor and assigned to supervise the Hengzhou salt depot.

遣察訪使遍行諸路，促成役書，改助役為免役，不願就募而強之者論如律。初，詔監司各定所部助役錢數，利路轉運使李瑜欲定四十萬，判官鮮于侁曰：「利路民貧，二十萬足矣。」議不合，遂各為奏。帝是侁議。侍御史鄧綰言利路役歲須緡錢九萬餘，而李瑜率取至三十三萬有奇，提點刑獄周約亦占名無異辭。詔責瑜、約，而擢侁為副使。

The court sent investigative envoys through every circuit to complete corvée registers, renamed the assistance corvée fee as the exemption-from-corvée fee, and prescribed statutory penalties for anyone pressed into hired corvée against his will. An edict had ordered each supervisory commissioner to set his circuit's assistance corvée levy. Lizhou transit commissioner Li Yu proposed four hundred thousand strings; his aide Xianyu Shen objected: "Lizhou is poor — two hundred thousand is enough." They deadlocked and each submitted a separate memorial. The Emperor sided with Xianyu Shen. Remonstrance censor Deng Zuan reported that Lizhou's corvée actually required just over ninety thousand strings per year, yet Li Yu had levied more than three hundred thirty thousand; judicial intendant Zhou Yue had cosigned without dissent. An edict censured Li Yu and Zhou Yue and promoted Xianyu Shen to deputy commissioner.

諸路役書既上之司農，乃頒募役法於天下，用免役錢祿內外胥吏，有祿而贓者，用倉法重其坐。初，京師賦吏祿，歲僅四千緡。至八年，計緡錢三十八萬有奇，京師吏舊有祿及外路吏祿又不在是焉。時知長葛縣樂京稱助役之法不可久行，常平司詢其故，不答，遂罷。京西使者召知湖陽縣劉蒙會議，蒙不肯議，退而條上利害，即投劾去。而權江西提刑提舉金君卿首募受代官部錢帛綱趨京，不差鄉戶衙前，而費減十五六。賜詔獎諭，仍落權為真。

After every circuit submitted its corvée register to the Ministry of Agriculture, the hired corvée law was promulgated nationwide. Exemption-from-corvée funds paid salaries for clerks throughout the bureaucracy; embezzling salaried clerks faced aggravated penalties under the granary statutes. At first the capital allocated only four thousand strings of cash per year for tax clerks' salaries. By year eight the total had risen to more than three hundred eighty thousand strings, not counting existing capital salaries or clerks' pay in the outer circuits. Le Jing, magistrate of Changge, declared that the assistance corvée system could not endure. The Ever-Normal Office asked why; he refused to answer and was removed. The Western Capital envoy summoned Liu Meng, magistrate of Huyang, to consult; Meng declined, submitted a detailed critique, resigned, and left office. Acting Jiangxi judicial intendant and intendant Jin Junqing pioneered hiring corvée labor for escorting successor-official money and silk convoys to the capital instead of drafting village yamen runners, cutting costs by roughly one-sixth. The throne rewarded him with an edict of praise and confirmed his acting appointment as permanent.

免役剩錢，詔州縣用常平法給散休息，添給吏人餐錢，仍立為法。京東免役錢以秋料起催，若雇直多少、役使重輕有未究者，命監司詳具來上，仍須熙寧七年乃行。永興、秦鳳比之他路，民貧役重，詔提舉司並省冗役，次第蠲減，當留二分寬剩，以為水旱閣放之備。

Surplus exemption-from-corvée funds were to be distributed under Ever-Normal Office rules for seasonal rest and supplemental meals for clerks, and this was codified. Hebei East was to collect exemption-from-corvée fees with the autumn tax; where hire rates or corvée burdens remained unsettled, supervisory commissioners were to report in full, effective no earlier than the seventh year of Xining. Yongxing and Qinfeng faced heavier corvée burdens than other circuits; the court ordered their intendant offices to trim redundant duties and reduce levies in stages, retaining a two-tenths surplus reserve against flood and drought relief.

七年，詔：「役錢千別納頭子五錢，凡修官舍，作什器，夫力輦運之類，皆許取以供費；不給，以情輕贖銅錢足之。諸路公人如弓箭手法，給田募人為之。凡逃、絕、監牧之田籍於轉運司者，不許射買請佃。提刑司以其田給應募者，而核其所直，準一年雇役為錢幾何，而歸其直於轉運司。」衢州西安縣用緡錢十二萬買田，始足募一縣之役。司農寺言，不獨兩浙如此，他路宜亦如之。費多難贍，乃欲改法。遂詔自今用寬剩錢買募役田，須先參會餘錢可以枝梧災傷，方許給買。若田價翔貴之地，則已之。

In the seventh year an edict declared: For every thousand cash of corvée levies, five cash in processing fees might be retained to cover repairs of government buildings, furnishings, porterage, and similar costs; Shortfalls were to be made up through discretionary commutation to copper-cash fines. Public posts such as archery instructors in every circuit were to be filled by hiring corvée recruits granted land allotments. Abandoned, escheated, and government pasture lands held by the transit commission could not be auctioned or leased privately. The judicial intendant was to assign such land to recruits, appraise its value at one year's hire-corvée equivalent, and remit that sum to the transit commission." Xi'an county in Quzhou had to spend one hundred twenty thousand strings of cash on land before it could fully staff the county's hired corvée. The Ministry of Agriculture noted that Two Zhe was not unique and other circuits should follow suit. The expense proved unsustainable and officials sought to revise the law. The throne ruled that surplus reserve funds could buy recruitment-corvée land only after confirming adequate reserves to cover disaster relief. Where land prices were too high, the program was to be suspended.

時免役出錢或未均，參知政事呂惠卿及其弟曲陽縣尉和卿皆請行手實法。其法：官為定立田產中價，使民各以田畝多少高下，隨價自占；仍並屋宅分有無蕃息立等，凡居錢五當蕃息之錢一。非用器田穀而輒隱落者許告，有實，以三分之一充賞。將造簿，預具式示民，令依式為狀，縣受而籍之。以其價列定高下，分為五等。既該見一縣之民物產錢數，乃參會通縣役錢本額而定所當輸，明書其數，示眾兩月，使悉知之。詔從其請。

Because exemption-from-corvée payments were still uneven, Councillor Lu Huiqing and his brother Heqing, captain of Quyang county, both urged adoption of the self-reporting of assets method. Under the method officials set median land prices and each household self-declared holdings by acreage and grade at those prices; Houses were graded by value and productive assets; every five cash of dwelling was reckoned as one cash of productive wealth. Concealment of non-farm assets was subject to denunciation; a third of recovered levies went to the informer. Before compiling registers, officials distributed sample forms for households to file declarations, which counties accepted and recorded. Properties were ranked into five grades by assessed value. Once countywide assets were tallied, officials reconciled them with the corvée levy quota, published each household's assessment for two months' public notice. The throne approved the proposal.

司農寺乞廢戶長、坊正，令州縣坊郭擇相鄰戶三二十家，排比成甲，迭為甲頭，督輸稅賦苗役，一稅一替。其後，諸路皆言甲頭催稅未便，遂詔耆戶長、壯丁仍舊募充，其保正、甲頭、承帖法並罷。

The Ministry of Agriculture proposed abolishing household and ward heads, grouping twenty to thirty neighboring urban households into rotating mutual-aid bands to collect taxes and corvée fees. When circuits reported that band heads made tax collection harder, the court restored the old practice of hiring elders, household heads, and strong youths, abolishing the band chief and receipt-runner systems.

王安石言給田募役，有害十餘。八年，罷給田募役法，已就募人如舊，闕者弗補。官戶輸役錢免其半，所免雖多，各無過二十千。兩縣以上有物產者通計之，兩州兩縣以上有物產者隨所在輸錢，等第不及者從一多處並之。

Wang Anshi listed more than ten harms in the grant-land recruitment corvée system. In the eighth year the grant-land recruitment corvée law was repealed: existing recruits stayed on, vacancies were left unfilled. Official households paid half the standard corvée fee, capped at twenty thousand cash each. Property holders in multiple counties or prefectures were assessed jointly, paying through the jurisdiction with the higher grade or the larger assessment base.

初，手實法行，言者多論其長告訐，增煩擾。至是，惠卿罷政，御史中丞鄧綰言其法不便，罷之，委司農寺再詳定以聞。

At first the self-reporting of assets method drew criticism for encouraging mutual denunciation and extra harassment. When Huiqing fell from power, censor-in-chief Deng Zuan condemned the method and had it abolished, directing the Ministry of Agriculture to draft a replacement.

九年，以荊湖兩路敷役錢太重，較一歲入出，寬剩錢數多，詔權減二年。尋詔自今寬剩役錢及買撲坊場錢，更不以給役人，歲具羨數上之司農，餘物凡籍之常平司者，常留一半。侍御史周尹言：「募役錢數外留寬剩一分，聞州縣希提舉司風旨，廣敷民錢，省役額，損雇直，而民間輸數一切如舊，寬剩數多。募直輕而倉法重，役人多不願就募。天下皆謂朝廷設法聚斂，不無疑怨。乞募耆長、戶長及役人不可過減者悉復舊額，約募錢足用，其寬剩止留二分。」

In the ninth year Jing and Hu circuits' levies were found excessive; surplus reserves were high, so collections were temporarily reduced for two years. Soon the court barred using surplus corvée reserves and licensed-shop purchase funds to pay corvée staff; annual surpluses were reported to the Ministry of Agriculture, and Ever-Normal Office holdings were to retain half in reserve. Remonstrance censor Zhou Yin said: "The law allowed a one-tenth surplus reserve atop hired corvée quotas, but I hear that counties, eager to please their intendant offices, still levied the old amounts while cutting quotas and hire wages — swelling surpluses. Hire wages were too low and granary penalties too harsh, so few would accept recruitment. Popular sentiment held that the court's policy was revenue extraction, breeding widespread resentment. He urged restoring prior quotas for elders, household heads, and essential corvée posts, limiting collections to actual need and capping surplus reserves at two-tenths."

是歲，諸路上司農寺歲收免役錢一千四十一萬四千五百五十三貫、石、匹、兩：金銀錢斛匹帛一千四十一萬四千三百五十二貫、石、匹、兩，絲綿二百一兩；支金銀錢斛六百四十八萬七千六百八十八兩、貫、石、匹；應在銀錢斛匹帛二百六十九萬三千二十貫、匹、石、兩，見在八十七萬九千二百六十七貫、石、匹、兩。

That year circuits reported to the Ministry of Agriculture annual exemption-from-corvée receipts of 10,414,553 units (guan, shi, pi, liang): 10,414,352 in gold, silver, cash, grain, bolts, and ounces of silk, plus 201 liang of floss; disbursements of 6,487,688 units in gold, silver, cash, and grain; 2,693,020 still owed; 879,267 remained on hand.

十年，知彭州呂陶奏：「朝廷欲寬力役，立法召募，初無過斂民財之意，有司奉行過當，增添科出，謂之寬剩。自熙寧六年施行役法，至今四年，臣本州四縣，已有寬剩錢四萬八千七百餘貫，今歲又須科納一萬餘貫。以成都一路計之，無慮五六十萬，推之天下，見今約有六七百萬貫寬剩在官。歲歲如此，泉幣絕乏，貨法不通，商旅農夫，最受其弊。臣恐朝廷不知免役錢外有此寬剩數目，乞契勘見今約支幾歲不至闕乏，霈發德音，特免數年；或逐年限定，不得過十分之一。所貴民不重困。」不報。

In the tenth year Pengzhou prefect Lü Tao wrote: "The court meant to lighten corvée by hiring labor, not to overtax the people; yet officials over-implemented the law, levying extra assessments they called surplus reserve. Four years after the corvée law took effect in the sixth year of Xining, my four counties already hold more than 48,700 guan in surplus reserves and must levy another 10,000-plus this year. The Chengdu circuit alone likely holds five or six hundred thousand; empire-wide, some six or seven million guan in surplus reserves now sit in government coffers. Year after year this drains cash from circulation, choking trade and hitting merchants and farmers hardest. I fear the court does not realize how large these surpluses are beyond the exemption-from-corvée levies. Please audit how many years' expenses the reserves cover and issue a gracious exemption for several years; or cap annual surplus collections at one-tenth. The aim was that the people would not be crushed anew." The court did not reply.

王安石去位，吳充為相，沈括獻議莫若稍變役法，雜以差徭為便。御史知雜蔡確言括反覆，貶括知宣州。

After Wang Anshi left office, Chancellor Wu Chong received Shen Kuo's advice to soften the corvée law by blending hired service with assigned corvée. Chief investigative censor Cai Que accused Shen Kuo of inconsistency and had him demoted to prefect of Xuanzhou.

役錢立額，浙東多以田稅錢數為則，浙西多用物力。至是，詔令通物力、稅錢互紐為數，從便輸納。淮東路估定物產，如其實直，以均敷取。初，許兩浙坊郭戶家產不及二百千，鄉村戶不及五十千，毋輸役錢，已而鄉戶不及五十千亦不免輸。元豐二年，提舉司言坊郭戶免輸法太優，乃詔如鄉戶法裁定所敷錢數。提舉廣西常平劉誼言：「廣西一路戶口二十萬，而民出役錢至十九萬緡，先用稅錢敷出；稅數不足，又敷之田米；田米不足，復算於身丁。夫廣西之民，身之有丁，既稅以錢，又算以米，是一身而輸二稅，殆前世弊法。今既未能蠲除，而又益以役錢，甚可憫也。至於廣東西監司、提舉司吏一月之給，上同令錄，下倍攝官，乞裁損其數，則兩路身丁田米亦可少寬。」遂詔吏輩月給錢遞減二千，歲遂減役錢一千二百餘緡。三年，司農寺丞吳雍言：「議定淮、浙役書，減冗占千三百餘人，裁省緡錢近二十九萬，會定歲用，寬剩錢一百四萬餘緡，諸路役書多若此類。乞先自近京三兩路修定，下之諸路。」從之。

Corvée quotas in Eastern Zhe were mostly keyed to land-tax payments, in Western Zhe to assessed property. The court then ordered circuits to combine property and tax assessments and let taxpayers pay whichever was more convenient. Huai-East assessed property at true value for even distribution of levies. Two Zhe had initially exempted urban households under 200,000 cash and rural households under 50,000 from corvée fees, but rural households under 50,000 were later made to pay anyway. In the second year of Yuanyou the intendant office ruled urban exemptions too generous; urban households were assessed like rural ones. Guangxi Ever-Normal intendant Liu Yi wrote: "Guangxi has two hundred thousand registered households yet collects up to 190,000 strings in corvée fees, first charging the land tax; when tax cash falls short, levying field rice; when field rice falls short, levying the head tax on adult males. Guangxi subjects already pay cash tax on every adult male, then rice tax on the same person — two taxes on one body, almost the abuses of earlier dynasties. Unable to abolish those burdens, the government has added corvée fees on top — a grievous plight. Guangdong and Guangxi clerks earn as much as magistrates above and twice acting officials below. Trim their salaries and both circuits could ease the head tax and field rice levies." The court cut clerks' monthly pay by two thousand cash each, saving more than 1,200 strings of corvée funds per year. In the third year Ministry of Agriculture aide Wu Yong reported: "Revising Huai and Zhe corvée registers cut 1,300 redundant posts and nearly 290,000 strings, leaving annual surplus reserves over 1.4 million — a pattern repeated across circuits. He asked to start with circuits near the capital and extend revisions empire-wide." The court agreed.

七年，天下免役緡錢歲計一千八百七十二萬九千三百，場務錢五百五萬九千，穀帛石匹九十七萬六千六百五十七，役錢較熙寧所入多三之一。

By the seventh year nationwide exemption-from-corvée cash totaled 18,729,300 strings, ward-shop fees 5,590,000, and 97,665,757 units of grain and cloth; corvée revenue was one-third higher than under Xining.

帝之力主免役也，知民間通苦差役，而衙役之任重行遠者尤甚，特創免役。雖均敷雇直，不能不取之民；然民得一意田畝，實解前日困弊。故群議雜起，意不為變。顧其間采王安石策，不正用雇直為額，而展敷二分以備吏祿、水旱之用。群臣每以為言，屢疑屢詰，而安石持之益堅。此其為法既不究終防弊，而聚斂小人又乘此增取，帝雖數詔禁戒，而不能盡止。至是，雇役不加多，而歲入比前增廣，則安石不能將順德意，其流弊已見矣。

The Emperor staunchly backed exemption-from-corvée because assigned corvée had burdened the people, especially long-distance yamen-runner duties; he created the new system for that reason. Even with standardized hire wages, the levy still had to come from taxpayers; yet farmers could devote themselves to farming, genuinely easing the old hardships. Hence the uproar of debate did not shake his resolve. He followed Wang Anshi's plan, however, not fixing quotas to actual hire costs but padding collections by two-tenths for clerk salaries and disaster reserves. Ministers protested again and again, but Wang Anshi held all the firmer. The statute itself lacked safeguards, and grasping officials exploited it; though the Emperor repeatedly forbade over-collection, he could not stop it entirely. By then hired corvée rolls had not grown, yet revenue had swollen — a sign that Wang Anshi's policy no longer matched the Emperor's benevolent intent and abuses were plain.

哲宗立，宣仁後垂簾同聽政，門下侍郎司馬光言：

When Emperor Zhezong succeeded, Empress Dowager Xuanren regented jointly with him. Vice director of the Gate Department Sima Guang said:

「按因差役破產者，惟鄉戶衙前。蓋山野愚戇之人，不能幹事，或因水火損敗官物，或為上下侵欺乞取，是致欠折，備償不足，有破產者。至於長名衙前，在公精熟，每經重難，別得優輕場務酬獎，往往致富，何破產之有？又向者役人皆上等戶為之，其下等、單丁、女戶及品官、僧道，本來無役，今使之一概輸錢，則是賦斂愈重。自行免役法以來，富室差得自寬，貧者困窮日甚，監司、守令之不仁者，於雇役人之外多取羨餘，或一縣至數萬貫，以冀恩賞。又青苗、免役，賦斂多責見錢。錢非私家所鑄，要須貿易，豐歲追限，尚失半價，若值凶年，無穀可糶，賣田不售，遂致殺牛賣肉，伐桑鬻薪，來年生計，不暇復顧，此農民所以重困也。

"Investigation shows that assigned corvée ruined only village yamen runners. Rustic and inexperienced men could not manage the work; fire or flood might destroy official goods, or superiors and subordinates might extort them — shortfalls and indemnities then bankrupted households. Long-registered yamen runners, skilled in office work, earned lighter ward-shop assignments as bonuses after hard duties and often grew rich — when did they go bankrupt? Formerly corvée fell on wealthy households while lower grades, single males, female-headed households, officials, monks, and priests were exempt; now all pay alike — a heavier tax burden. Since exemption-from-corvée took effect the rich have fared better while the poor grow poorer; unscrupulous officials skim surpluses beyond hire costs, sometimes tens of thousands of guan per county, seeking imperial favor. Green Sprouts loans and exemption-from-corvée alike demand payment in cash. Households do not mint money themselves and must buy it in trade. Even in good years collectors demand cash at half the grain price; in famine years, with no grain to sell and land unsold, farmers slaughter oxen, sell timber, and mortgage next year's livelihood — that is why they are crushed.

臣愚以為宜悉罷免役錢，諸色役人，並如舊制定差，見雇役人皆罷遣之。衙前先募人投充長名，召募不足，然後差鄉村人戶，每經歷重難差遣，依舊以優輕場務充酬獎。所有見在役錢，撥充州縣常平本錢，以戶口為率，存三年之蓄，有餘則歸轉運司。凡免役之法，縱富強應役之人，征貧弱不役之戶，利於富不利於貧。及今耳目相接，猶可復舊名，若更年深，富者安之，民不可復差役矣。」

I believe exemption-from-corvée levies should be abolished entirely, all corvée posts restored to the old assignment system, and current hires dismissed. Yamen runners should first be recruited as long-registered posts; only when recruitment fails should rural households be drafted, with lighter ward-shop duties as rewards after hard assignments. Existing corvée funds should fund county Ever-Normal principal reserves at a per-household rate, keep three years' supply on hand, and remit the rest to the transit commission. Exemption-from-corvée lets the wealthy who once bore corvée buy out of it while taxing the poor who were never liable — it helps the rich, not the poor. While living memory still links us to the old rolls, those names can still be restored; let another generation pass and the wealthy will have grown comfortable with the new order — the people will never return to assigned corvée."

於是始詔修定役書，凡役錢，惟元定額及額外寬剩二分已下許著為準，餘並除之。若寬剩元不及二分者，自如舊則。尋詔耆戶長、壯丁皆仍舊募人供役，保正、甲頭、承帖人並罷。

An edict then ordered revision of the corvée registers: only the original fixed quota plus a surplus reserve of up to two-tenths could be retained; all other surcharges were abolished. Where the surplus reserve had always been below two-tenths, the old rate would stand. Soon after, elders, household heads, and stalwart youth were again to be filled by hired recruits; security captains, hamlet heads, and notice bearers were all abolished.

元祐元年，侍御史劉摯言：「率戶賦錢，有從來不預差役而概被斂取者，有一戶而輸數百以至千緡者。昔惟衙前一役，有至破產者爾。今天下坊場，官收而官賣之，歲計緡錢無慮數百萬，自可足衙前雇募支酬之直，則役之重者已無所事於農民矣。外惟散從、承符、弓手、手力、耆戶長、壯丁之類，無大勞費，宜並用祖宗差法，自第一等而下通任之。」監察御史王岩叟請於衙前大役立本等相助法，以盡變通之利。借如一邑之中當應大役者百家，而歲取十人，則九十家出力為助，明年易十戶，復如之，則大役無偏重之弊；其於百色無名之差占，一切非理之資陪，悉用熙寧新法禁之，雖不助猶可為也。

In the first year of Yuanyou, attendant censor Liu Zhi said: "The government levies every household for cash, including some never liable for assigned corvée; one household may pay several hundred to a thousand strings of cash. In the past only yamen-runner duty could ruin a household. Today the empire's ward stalls are collected and sold by the state, yielding several million strings of cash a year — enough to cover yamen-runner recruitment wages. The heaviest corvée no longer need touch the farming population. Apart from these, scattered attendants, notice bearers, archers, hand laborers, elder household heads, and stalwart youth require little expense; they should all revert to the ancestral assigned corvée, filled in rotation from the first grade downward." Supervisory censor Wang Yansou proposed a same-grade mutual-assistance rule for the great yamen-runner corvée, to realize every benefit of flexible adjustment. Suppose a township had a hundred households liable for the great corvée and each year ten served: the other ninety would contribute to their support; the following year another ten would rotate in — so the great corvée would never fall with undue weight on a few; As for the hundred petty unauthorized assignments and all unreasonable supplementary payments, the Xining prohibitions should apply in full; even without mutual assistance, that alone would suffice.

殿中侍御史劉次莊言：「近製許雇耆戶長須三等已上戶。不知三等已上戶不願受雇，既無願者，則郡縣必陽循雇名，陰用差法，不若立法明差之為便。」戶部言：「詔凡耆戶長、壯丁並募人供役，竊慮耆戶長雇錢數少，無應募者。兼四等以下戶舊不敷役錢，惟輪差壯丁，今悉雇募，用錢額廣，提舉司必從人戶增敷。蓋舊法役不盡雇，亦有輪差輪募之處，欲且如本法。」

Palace attendant censor Liu Cizhuang said: "A recent rule allows hiring elder household heads only from third-grade households and above. Third-grade households and above will not accept hire," he said. "With no volunteers, prefectures and counties will pay lip service to hiring while secretly assigning corvée; it would be simpler to legislate open assigned corvée." The Household Ministry replied: "The edict requires elders, household heads, and stalwart youth to be filled by recruits, but we fear the hire wages for elder household heads are too low and no one will volunteer. Fourth-grade households and below never paid corvée money but only served as stalwart youth on rotation; now all are to be hired, widening the cash burden — intendant offices will surely raise levies on households. Under the old law corvée was not entirely hired; some duties rotated by assignment and some by recruitment. We ask that the original law stand for now."

中書舍人蘇軾言：「先帝初行役法，取寬剩錢不得過二分，以備災傷。有司奉行過當，行之幾十六七年，積而不用，至三千餘萬貫石。熙寧中，行給田募役法，大略如邊郡弓箭手。臣知密州，先募弓手，民甚便之，曾未半年，此法復罷。」因列其五利。王岩叟言：「蘇軾乞買田募役，其五利難信，而有十弊。」大指謂：「官市民田，慮不當價；民受田就募，既非永業，則鹵莽其耕，又將轉而他之。」而其六弊特詳，曰：「弓箭手雖名應募，實與家居農民無異，雖或番上及緩急不免點集，實不廢田業，非如州縣色役長在官寺，則弓箭手之擾可知矣。然猶聞闕額常難補招，已就招者又時時竄去，引以為比，不切事情。」其七弊曰：「戶及三等以上，皆能自足，必不肯佃田供役。今立法須二等以上戶方充弓手，三等以上方得供散從官以下色役，乃是用給田募役之名，行揭簿定差之實。既雲百姓樂於應募，何以戶降四等必須上二等戶保任？任之而逃，則勒任者就供田役，此豈得雲樂應也耶？」上官均亦陳五不可行，軾議遂格。

Central Secretariat drafter Su Shi said: "When the late emperor first enacted the corvée law, the surplus reserve was capped at two-tenths against disaster relief. Offices over-applied the rule for nearly seventeen years, hoarding unused reserves that reached more than thirty million strings and bushels of grain. Under Xining reforms they tried grant-fields hired corvée, modeled broadly on frontier archer corps. When I governed Mi Prefecture we first recruited archers; the people welcomed it, yet within half a year the policy was scrapped again." He then set out five advantages of the plan. Wang Yansou objected: "Su Shi's proposal to buy land for hired corvée — its five claimed benefits are doubtful, and it has ten serious flaws." In summary he argued: "When the state buys private farmland, prices may be unfair; tenants who take land to enlist, holding no permanent title, will farm carelessly and soon abandon the plots." His sixth objection was the most detailed: "Archers are called recruits but live like ordinary farmers; though they must report for duty in emergencies, they do not abandon their farms — unlike county corvée clerks who live year-round in yamen compounds. Compare that to the lesser burden on archers. Yet frontier quotas are chronically understaffed and recruits often desert — citing archers as a model misses the point entirely." His seventh flaw: "Third-grade households and above are self-sufficient and will never tenant state land to perform corvée. The new law requires second-grade households for archers and third-grade for scattered attendants and lesser duties — grant-fields hired corvée in name, register-posting assigned corvée in fact. If the people truly welcome recruitment, why must fourth-grade households be guaranteed by second-grade neighbors? If the recruit flees, the guarantor is forced onto the land — what joy is there in that?" Shangguan Jun added five further objections, and Shi's plan was shelved.

司馬光復奏：

Sima Guang memorialized again:

「今免役之法，其害有五：上戶舊充役，固有陪備，而得番休，今出錢比舊費特多，年年無休息。下戶元不充役，今例使出錢。舊日所差皆土著良民，今皆浮浪之人應募，無顧藉，受賕，侵陷官物。又農民出錢難於出力，若遇凶年，則賣莊田、牛具、桑柘，以錢納官。提舉常平倉司惟務多斂役錢，廣積寬剩。此五害也。

"The exemption-from-corvée system has five harms. Wealthy households once served corvée with supplementary payments but enjoyed rotation off duty; now they pay far more in cash, year after year without respite. Poor households never served corvée before; now they must all pay cash. Former assignments went to rooted local householders; now drifters answer recruitment without local ties, take bribes, and mishandle official property. Farmers find cash harder than labor; in famine years they sell fields, oxen, and mulberry groves to pay the state. Intendant Ever-Normal offices only seek to levy more corvée money and swell surplus reserves. Such are the five harms of the system.

今莫若直降敕命，盡罷天下免役錢，其諸色役人，並依熙寧元年以前舊法人數，委本縣令佐揭簿定差。其人不願身自供役，許擇可任者雇代，有逋逃失陷，雇者任之。惟衙前一役，最號重難，固有因而破產者，為此始作助役法。自後色色優假，禁止陪備，別募命官將校部押遠綱，遂不聞更有破產之人；若今衙前仍行差法，陪備既少，當不至破家。若猶矜其力難獨任，即乞如舊法，於官戶、寺觀、單丁、女戶有屋產月收僦直可及十五千、莊田中熟所收及百石以上者，並隨貧富以差出助役錢，自餘物產，約此為準。每州樁收，候有重難役使，即以支給。

Better to issue an edict abolishing exemption-from-corvée levies empire-wide, restore all corvée posts to pre-Xining quotas, and charge each county magistrate with register-posting assigned corvée. Those unwilling to serve in person may hire a qualified substitute; the hirer answers for any flight, loss, or default. Yamen-runner duty alone is called the hardest; bankruptcies under it prompted the assistance-corvée law in the first place. Later every favor was granted, supplementary payments forbidden, and commissioned officers recruited to escort long-distance transport — bankruptcies ceased to be heard of; If yamen runners revert to assigned corvée with lighter supplementary payments, households should not be ruined. If the burden remains too heavy, restore the old assistance levy on official households, temples, single men, and female-headed households with monthly rents of fifteen thousand cash or harvests of a hundred bushels, scaled by wealth, with other property assessed by the same rule. Each prefecture should stockpile the fund and disburse it when heavy corvée arises.

尚慮役人利害，四方不能齊同。乞許監司、守令審其可否，可則亟行，如未究盡，縣許五日具措畫上之州，州一月上轉運司，轉運司季以聞。朝廷委執政審定，隨一路一州各為之敕，務要曲盡。然免役行之近二十年，富戶習於優利，一旦變更，不能不懷異同。又差役復行，州縣不能不有小擾，提舉官專以多斂役錢為功，必競言免役錢不可罷。當此之際，願勿以人言輕壞良法。」

Yet corvée conditions differ by region and cannot be uniform everywhere. Let supervisory commissioners and prefectural magistrates judge feasibility and act at once where possible; where plans need work, counties may report within five days to the prefecture, prefectures within a month to the transit commission, and transit commissions quarterly to the throne. Let the chief ministers review and issue tailored edicts for each circuit and prefecture, covering every local circumstance. Exemption-from-corvée has stood nearly twenty years; the wealthy have grown used to its advantages and will resist sudden change. Restoring assigned corvée will briefly disturb county administration, and intendant officials who built careers on heavy levies will insist exemption fees cannot be abolished. At such a moment, do not lightly abandon a sound law for the sake of clamor."

知樞密院章惇取光所奏疏略未盡者駁奏之。尚書左丞呂公著言惇專欲求勝，不顧命令大體，望選差近臣詳定。右正言王覿奏：「光議初上，惇嘗同奏，待既施行，方列光短，其資小人，不當寘腹心地。」於是詔以資政殿大學士韓維、給事中範純仁等專切詳定以聞。

Zhang Dun, director of the Bureau of Military Affairs, seized on gaps in the summary of Guang's memorial and submitted a rebuttal. Left Vice Director Lü Gongzhu said Zhang Dun sought only to win the argument without regard for policy, and asked that nearby ministers be appointed to review the matter thoroughly. Right Remonstrance Official Wang Di said: "When Guang's plan first came forward, Zhang Dun endorsed it; only after it took effect did he attack Guang's faults — such pettiness should bar him from the inner circle of trust." The throne then ordered Han Wei, Academician-Excellence, Fan Chunren, Supervising Secretary, and others to conduct a dedicated review and report back.

司馬光之始議差役，中書舍人範百祿言於光曰：「熙寧免役法行，百祿為咸平縣，開封罷遣衙前數百人，民皆欣幸。其後有司求羨餘，務刻剝，乃以法為病。今第減助免錢額以寬民力可也。」光雖不從，及議州縣吏因差役受賕從重法加等配流，百祿押刑房，固執不可曰：「鄉民因徭為吏，今日執事而受賕，明日罷役，復以財遺人，若盡以重法繩之，將見黥麵赭衣充塞道路矣。」光曰：「微公言，幾為民害。」遂已之。

When Sima Guang first proposed restoring assigned corvée, drafter Fan Bailu told him: "When Xining exemption-from-corvée took effect, I was magistrate of Xianping; Kaifeng released hundreds of yamen runners and the people rejoiced. Later offices chased surpluses and squeezed the people — that is what made the law a burden. Now it would be enough simply to cut assistance and exemption levies to ease the people's burden." Guang did not agree; when the court debated sentencing corvée clerks who took bribes to aggravated exile, Bailu blocked the punishment office and insisted: "Villagers become clerks through corvée, take bribes while serving, then bribe others when their term ends — apply the harshest law everywhere and the roads will swarm with tattooed convicts in ochre robes." Guang said: "Without your counsel I would nearly have harmed the people." The proposal was dropped.

蘇轍又言：

Su Zhe spoke again:

「差役復行，應議者有五：其一曰舊差鄉戶為衙前，破敗人家，甚如兵火。自新法行，天下不復知有衙前之患；然而天下反以為苦者，農家歲出役錢為難，及許人添剗見賣坊場，遂有輸納不給者爾。向使止用官賣坊場課入以雇衙前，自可足辦，而他色役人止如舊法，則為利較然矣。初疑衙前多是浮浪投雇，不如鄉差稅戶可托。然行之十餘年，投雇者亦無大敗闕，不足以易鄉差衙前之害。今略計天下坊場錢，一歲可得四百二十餘萬貫，若立定中價，不許添剗，三分減一，尚有二百八十餘萬貫。而衙前支費及召募非泛綱運，一歲共不過一百五十餘萬緡，則是坊場之直，自可了辨衙前百費，何用更差鄉戶？今制盡復差役，知衙前若無陪備，故以鄉戶為之；至於坊場，元無明降處分，不知官自出賣耶，抑仍用以酬獎衙前也？若仍用以酬獎，即召募部綱以何錢應用？若不與之錢，即舊名重難，鄉戶衙前仍前自備，為害不小。

"Restoring assigned corvée raises five issues. First: drafting township households as yamen runners once ruined families as thoroughly as war. Under the new law the empire forgot the scourge of yamen-runner duty; yet the real hardship was the annual corvée levy on farmers and the permission to bid up ward-stall franchises until some could not pay. Had ward-stall revenue alone hired yamen runners while other corvée followed the old law, the advantage would have been obvious. I first doubted hired yamen runners as drifters less trustworthy than assigned tax-paying householders. Yet after more than ten years recruits have not failed badly enough to justify reviving township-assigned yamen runners. Empire-wide ward-stall revenue now yields over 4.2 million strings a year; fix fair prices, forbid bidding wars, cut a third, and 2.8 million strings would still remain. Yamen-runner costs and non-routine transport recruitment total under 1.5 million strings a year — ward-stall revenue alone could cover every yamen-runner expense; why draft township households again? The new policy restores assigned corvée entirely, assuming township households are needed because yamen runners lack supplementary payments; Yet no clear order governs ward stalls — will the state sell them directly or still use the revenue to compensate yamen runners? If revenue still compensates yamen runners, what funds will recruit transport escorts? Without cash compensation the old heavy-duty yamen-runner burden returns, and township householders must again bear costs themselves — no small harm.

其二，坊郭人戶舊苦科配，新法令與鄉戶並出役錢，而免科配，其法甚便。但敷錢大重，未為經久之法。乞取坊郭、官戶、寺觀、單丁、女戶，酌今役錢減定中數，與坊場錢用以支雇衙前及召募非泛綱運外，卻令樁備募雇諸色役人之用。

Second: urban households once suffered arbitrary levies; the new law had them pay corvée money alongside rural households in exchange for ending those levies — a sound arrangement. But the levies were too heavy to be sustainable. Levy urban wards, official households, temples, single men, and female-headed households at a reduced median rate; use ward-stall revenue to hire yamen runners and non-routine transport, and stockpile the rest for hiring other corvée posts.

其三，乞用見今在役人數定差，熙寧未減定前，其數實冗，不可遵用。

Third: fix assignments from current in-service quotas, not the bloated pre-Xining rolls.

其四，熙寧以前，散從、弓手、手力諸役人常苦逆送，自新法以來，官吏皆請雇錢，役人既便，官亦不至闕事，乞仍用雇法。

Fourth: before Xining scattered attendants, archers, and hand laborers dreaded escort duty; under the new law officials pay hire wages, easing both corvée workers and administration — keep hired corvée.

其五，州縣胥吏並量支雇錢募充，仍罷重法，亦許以坊場、坊郭錢為用；不足用，方差鄉戶，鄉戶所出雇錢，不得過官雇本數。」詔送看詳役法所詳定，擇其要者先奏以行。

Fifth: fund county clerks through measured hire wages, repeal harsh penalties, and draw on ward-stall and urban revenue; and only if funds fall short assign township households, whose hire payments must not exceed the official rate." The court referred the proposal to the corvée-law review office and ordered the main points implemented first.

於是役人悉用見數為額，惟衙前用坊場、河渡錢雇募，不足，方許揭簿定差。其餘役人，惟該募者得募，餘悉定差。遂罷官戶、寺觀、單丁、女戶出助役法，其今夏役錢即免輸。尋以衙前不皆有雇直，遂改雇募為招募。凡熙、豐嘗立法禁以衙前及役人非理役使及令陪備圓融之類，悉申行之，耆壯依保正長法。坊場河渡錢、量添酒錢之類，名色不一，惟於法許用者支用外，並樁備招募衙前、支酬重難及應緣役事之用。如一州錢不供用，許移別州錢用之，一路不足，許從戶部通他路移用；其或有餘，毋得妄用，其或不足，毋得減募增置。衙前最為重役，若已招募足額，上一等戶有虛閑不差者，令供次等色役。鄉差役人，在職官如敢抑令別雇承符、散從承代其役者，轉運司劾奏重責。時提舉常平司已罷置，凡役事改隸提刑司。

Corvée quotas were set from current headcounts; yamen runners alone were hired from ward-stall and ferry revenues, with register-posting assigned corvée only when funds fell short. Other corvée posts could be hired only where recruitment applied; all others were assigned. Assistance levies on official households, temples, single men, and female-headed households were abolished, and their summer corvée payments were waived for that year. Soon, because not every yamen-runner post had a hire wage, hired corvée was renamed open recruitment. All Xining and Yuanfeng prohibitions on abusive use of yamen runners and corvée workers, forced supplementary payments, and similar abuses were re-enforced; elders and stalwart youth followed the security-captain system. Ward-stall revenue, ferry fees, added wine taxes, and similar funds were to be spent only as law allowed; the remainder stockpiled to recruit yamen runners, pay heavy-duty compensation, and meet related corvée needs. A prefecture short of funds might draw from another prefecture; a circuit short might draw through the Household Ministry from other circuits; surplus must not be spent recklessly, nor shortages met by cutting recruitment or adding posts. Yamen-runner duty was the heaviest; once recruitment met quota, idle top-grade households were assigned lesser corvée duties. Officials who forced assigned corvée workers to hire notice bearers or scattered attendants as substitutes would face impeachment and heavy penalties from the transit commission. By then the Ever-Normal intendant offices had been abolished and all corvée affairs transferred to judicial intendant offices.

殿中侍御史呂陶言：「天下版籍不齊，或以稅錢貫百，或以田地頃畝，或以家之積財，或以田之受種。雖皆別為五等，然有稅錢一貫、占田一頃、積財千緡、受種十石而入之一等。一等之上，無等可加，遂至稅緡、田頃、積財、受種十倍於此，亦不過同在一等。憑此差役，必不均平。雖無今日納錢之勞，反有昔時偏頗陪費之害。莫若裁量新舊，著為條約：如稅錢一貫為第一等，合於本等中差一役，稅錢兩倍於一役者並差二役，又倍即差三役；雖稅錢更多，不過三役，並聽雇人。或本縣戶多役少，則上戶之役不須並差，但可次敘休役年月遠近而均其勞逸。假令甲充役後可閑五年，乙稅錢兩倍於甲，可閑三年，丙又倍於乙，可閑一年。以其田土頃畝之類為等並其餘同等多少不侔者，並仿此。又成、梓兩路差役，舊專以戶稅為差等，熙寧初，別定坊郭戶營運錢以助免役。乃在稅產之外，州縣抑認成額，至今不減，至有停閑居業移避鄉村，猶不得免。今方議法，坊郭等第固不可偏廢，然須參究虛實，別行排定，以寬民力。」並送詳定所。

Palace attendant censor Lü Tao said: "Household registers differ empire-wide — some rank by tax strings, some by acreage, some by family wealth, some by seed yield. All are divided into five grades, yet one string of tax, one qing of land, a thousand strings of wealth, or ten bushels of yield can place a household in the first grade. Above the first grade no higher rank exists — households paying ten times the tax, holding ten times the land, wealth, or yield still share the same top grade. Assigned corvée on this basis cannot be fair. Though cash levies would end, the old harm of uneven supplementary payments would return. Better to blend old and new in a fixed rule: one string of tax marks the first grade and one corvée assignment; double that tax assigns two corvées; double again assigns three; however high the tax, no more than three corvées, each fillable by hire. Where a county has many households but light corvée quotas, upper households need not all serve at once; rest years can be sequenced according to tax liability so that labor and relief are balanced fairly. Suppose Household A, after serving, rests five years; Household B, paying twice A's taxes, rests three years; Household C, paying twice B's taxes, rests one year. The same principle applies when ranking by acreage or when households of the same nominal grade differ widely in wealth. In the Chengdu and Zizhou circuits, corvée ranks had long been based solely on household tax. Early in Xining, urban households were additionally assessed operating capital levies to support the exemption-from-corvée system. These levies stood outside assessed property. Prefectures and counties enforced fixed quotas that remain unrevised. Some merchants shut their shops and moved to the countryside to escape them, yet still could not obtain exemption. As the law is being revised, urban household grades cannot simply be abolished, but their assessments must be audited and reset to ease the people's burdens." These proposals were referred to the review office.

蘇轍又言：「雇募衙前改為招募，既非明以錢雇，必無肯就招者，勢須差撥，不知歲收坊場、河渡緡錢四百二十餘萬，欲於何地用之？熙寧以前，諸路衙前多雇長名當役，如西川全是長名，淮南、兩浙長名太半以上，餘路亦不減半。今坊場官既自賣，必無願充長名，則衙前並是鄉戶。雖號招募，而上戶利於免役，方肯占名，與差無異。上戶既免衙前重役，則凡役皆當均及以次人戶，如此則下戶充役，多如熙寧前矣。」

Su Zhe added: "Renaming hired yamen runners as 'recruits' without openly paying wages will leave no volunteers; counties will assign corvée in disguise. Meanwhile more than 4.2 million strings are collected yearly from franchises and ferry tolls — for what purpose? Before Xining, most circuits filled yamen-runner posts with long-registered men. Sichuan used them exclusively; Huainan and the two Zhe circuits used them for more than half of all posts; other circuits used them for at least half. Now that the government sells franchises directly, no one will take long-registered posts, and yamen runners will again be drawn from township households. Though called recruitment, only upper households who benefit from exemption fees will register — which is assignment in all but name. If upper households escape the heaviest yamen-runner duties, every other corvée will fall on lower-ranked households, and lower households will bear corvée as heavily as they did before Xining."

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