Volume 186 Treatises 139: Finance and Economics 2h

食貨下八○商稅市易均輸互市舶法

Finance and Economics, Part 8: Commercial Taxes, the Market Purchase System, Balanced Transport, Border Markets, and Maritime Trade Regulations

商稅凡州縣皆置務，關鎮亦或有之；大則專置官監臨，小則令、佐兼領；諸州仍令都監、監押同掌。行者齎貨，謂之「過稅」，每千錢算二十；居者市鬻，謂之「住稅」，每千錢算三十，大約如此。然無定制，其名物各隨地宜而不一焉。行旅齎裝，非有貨幣當算者，無得發篋搜索。凡販夫販婦細碎交易，嶺南商賈齎生藥及民間所織縑帛，非鬻於市者皆勿算。常稅名物，令有司件析頒行天下，揭於版，置官署屋壁，俾其遵守。應算物貨而輒藏匿，為官司所捕獲，沒其三分之一，以半畀捕者。販鬻而不由官路者罪之。有官須者十取其一，謂之「抽稅」。

Commercial tax offices were set up in every prefecture and county, and in some cases at passes and market towns as well. Larger stations had officials appointed solely to supervise them, while smaller ones were overseen concurrently by magistrates and their assistants. In the prefectures as well, chief military inspectors and prison wardens were directed to share in the administration. Goods carried by traveling merchants were subject to a "transit tax" of twenty cash per thousand. Goods sold by resident merchants in the market were subject to a "residence tax" of thirty cash per thousand—roughly the standard rate. However, there were no fixed rules nationwide; the list of taxable goods varied with local conditions. Officials were forbidden to break open travelers' baggage unless goods or currency liable to taxation were involved. Petty dealings by street vendors, medicinal herbs brought by Lingnan merchants, and household-woven silks not offered for market sale were all exempt from taxation. The roster of regularly taxed commodities was itemized by the authorities, promulgated empire-wide, and posted on boards in government offices so that all would observe it. If taxable goods were deliberately concealed and seized by officials, one-third of the goods was confiscated and half of that share was given to whoever reported the offense. Merchants who traded without using official routes were subject to punishment. Where the government required certain commodities, a tenth was levied, called the "withholding tax."

自唐室藩鎮多便宜從事，擅其征利，以及五季，諸國益務掊聚財貨以自贍，故征算尤繁。宋興，所下之國，必詔蠲省，屢敕官吏毋事煩苛、規羨餘以徼恩寵。大中祥符六年，始免諸路州軍農器之稅。

From the Tang, when military governors often acted on their own authority and kept levy profits for themselves, through the Five Dynasties, when rival states increasingly squeezed the populace to finance themselves, commercial taxation grew especially heavy. When the Song dynasty was founded, edicts to lighten taxation were issued in every region they brought under control, and officials were repeatedly warned not to harass the people or inflate revenues to court imperial favor. In 1013, taxes on agricultural tools were abolished throughout the empire.

諸州津渡舊皆有算，或水涸改置橋梁，有司猶責主者備償。建隆初，詔除滄、德、棣、淄、齊、鄆幹渡三十九處算錢，水漲聽民置渡，勿收其算。自是，有類此者多因恩宥蠲除。其餘橘園、魚池、水磑、社酒、蓮藕、鵝鴨、螺蚌、柴薪、地鋪、枯牛骨、溉田水利等名，皆因諸國舊制，前後屢詔廢省。緣河州縣民船載粟亦輸算，三年，始罷。

Ferry crossings in the prefectures had long been subject to tolls; even when drought forced relocation of crossings to bridges, officials still demanded reimbursement from those responsible. Early in the reign, tolls were abolished at thirty-nine dry crossings in six Hebei prefectures, and when floods rose the people were allowed to operate ferries without paying tolls. Thereafter, many similar levies were waived by imperial grace. Taxes on orange groves, fish ponds, water mills, communal wine, lotus roots, poultry, shellfish, firewood, ground-rent stalls, dried ox bones, irrigation works, and the like—all legacies of the former states—were repeatedly abolished by imperial edict. Grain boats on the Yellow River had also been taxed; after three years this levy was finally ended.

天聖以來，國用浸廣，有請算緡錢以助經費者。仁宗曰：「貨泉之利，欲流天下通有無，何可算也？」一日，內出蜀羅一端，為印朱所漬者數重，因詔天下稅務，毋輒汙壞商人物帛。康定元年，西邊兵費不給，州縣或增所算名物，朝廷知之，悉命蠲去。既而下詔敕勵，且戒毋搜索行者家屬，歲儉則免算耕牛，水鄉又或弛蒲、魚、果、蓏之稅，民流而渡河者亦為之免算。應算而匿不自言者，雖聽人捕告，抵罪如舊法，然須物皆見在乃聽，以防誣罔。至於歲課贏縮，屢詔有司裁定，前後以詔蠲放者，不可勝數。

From the Tiansheng era onward, as state expenditures grew, some proposed taxing copper cash to bolster the treasury. Emperor Renzong said, "Money is meant to circulate throughout the realm and balance abundance and scarcity—how can we tax it?" One day the palace produced a length of Shu silk ruined by repeated stampings of sealing vermilion, and the emperor accordingly ordered tax offices empire-wide not to deface merchants' goods and textiles. In 1040, when western frontier military costs ran short, some localities expanded their lists of taxable goods; once the court learned of this, it ordered all such increases repealed. Edicts soon followed urging restraint and forbidding searches of travelers' families; plow oxen were exempted in famine years; water districts sometimes saw taxes on reeds, fish, fruit, and melons relaxed; and refugees crossing rivers were also exempted. Concealing taxable goods without reporting remained punishable under the old law, and informants were still rewarded; but proceedings were allowed only when the goods were actually present, to prevent false denunciation. When annual tax quotas proved too high or too low, the court repeatedly ordered adjustments, and imperial remissions over the years were beyond counting.

皇祐中，歲課緡錢七百八十六萬三千九百。嘉祐以後，弛茶禁，所曆州縣收算錢。至治平中，歲課增六十餘萬，而茶稅錢居四十九萬八千六百。

During the Huangyou era (1049–1054), annual commercial tax revenue reached 7,863,900 strings of cash. After the Jiayou era, when the tea monopoly was relaxed, prefectures and counties along trade routes collected transit taxes instead. By the Zhiping era, annual receipts had risen by more than 600,000 strings, of which tea duties alone contributed 498,600.

熙寧以來，河北、河東、陝西三路支移，民以租賦齎貨至邊貿易以輸官者，勿稅；河北流民復業者所過免算。後以歲稔，慮逸稅課，復舊。五年，以在京商稅院隸提舉市易務。七年，減國門之稅數十種，錢不滿三十者蠲之。其先，外城二十門皆責以課息，近令隨閑、要分等，以檢捕獲失之數為賞罰；既而以歲旱，復有是命。

From the Xining reforms onward, people in the Hebei, Hedong, and Shaanxi circuits who transported rent grain and tax goods to the frontier for official trade were exempt from commercial tax; refugees from Hebei returning to farming were also exempt from transit duties along the route. Later, when harvests improved and officials feared lost revenue, the exemptions were revoked. In 1072, the capital commercial tax office was placed under the Market Purchase Commission. In 1074, dozens of capital gate levies were cut, and amounts under thirty cash were waived entirely. Previously all twenty outer city gates had been assigned revenue targets; now they were graded by traffic volume, with rewards and penalties tied to seizure records; when drought struck, that easing order was reissued.

元豐元年，濱、棣、滄州竹木、魚果、炭箔稅不及百錢者蠲之。二年，熙河路製置邊防財用李憲擅榷本路商貨，令漕臣蔣之奇劾其罪。導洛通汴司請置堆垛場於泗州，賈物至者，先入官場，官以船運至京，稍輸船算。明年，詔：近京以通津水門外順成倉為場。非導洛司船而載商稅入汴者，許糾告，雖自請稅，猶如私載法。惟日用物非販易，若廢箔、柴草、竹木之類勿禁。瓊管奏：「海南收稅，較船之丈尺，謂之『格納』。其法分三等，有所較無幾，而輸錢多寡十倍。賈物自泉、福、兩浙、湖、廣至者，皆金銀物帛，直或至萬餘緡；自高、化至者，唯米包、瓦器、牛畜之類，直才百一，而概收以丈尺。故高、化商人不至，海南遂乏牛米。請自今用物貴賤多寡計稅，官給文憑，聽鬻於部內，否則許糾告，以船貨給賞。」詔如所奏。六年，京東漕臣吳居厚言：「商人負正稅七萬六千餘緡，倍稅十五萬二千餘緡。」詔蠲其倍稅，納正稅，百千以下期以三年，百千以上五年。

In 1078, in coastal prefectures, commercial taxes on bamboo, timber, fish, fruit, charcoal, and foil amounting to less than one hundred cash were abolished. In 1079, Li Xian, commissioner for frontier finances on the Xining Circuit, was impeached for imposing a monopoly on local commerce without authorization. The agency overseeing the Luo–Bian canal proposed stacking yards at Sizhou where goods would enter government warehouses before shipment to the capital, with a modest boat duty charged. The following year an edict designated the Shuncheng granary outside Tongjin Water Gate near the capital as the site. Carrying taxed merchandise into the Bian on unauthorized boats was subject to denunciation; even voluntary payment of duties did not spare violators penalties for clandestine transport. Daily necessities not intended for trade—waste materials, firewood, grass, bamboo, and timber—were exempt from the ban. The Qiongzhou administration reported: "In Hainan, taxes were assessed by measuring a ship's dimensions, a method called 'graded assessment. The method used three grades, so that ships of similar size could pay ten times as much in tax. Goods from Quanzhou, Fuzhou, the two Zhe circuits, Hunan, and Guangdong were mostly gold, silver, and silks worth as much as ten thousand strings; Ships from Gaozhou and Huazhou carried only rice sacks, pottery, and livestock worth a hundredth as much, yet were taxed by hull measurement alone. Merchants from Gaozhou and Huazhou therefore stopped coming, and Hainan was left short of grain and cattle. We ask that hereafter tax be assessed on the value and quantity of goods, that officials issue certificates permitting sale within the circuit, and that informants be rewarded with a share of the ship's cargo." The court approved the proposal. In 1083, the Jingdong transport commissioner Wu Juhou reported: "Merchants owe regular taxes of more than 76,000 strings and penalty taxes at double rate of more than 152,000 strings." The court remitted the penalty taxes and required payment of regular taxes only, with three years allowed for amounts under one hundred strings and five years for larger sums.

元祐元年，戶部請令在京商稅院，酌取元豐八年錢五十五萬二千二百六十一緡有奇，以為新額，自明年始。三年，又以天聖歲課為額，蓋戶部用五年並增之法，立額既重，歲課不登，故言者論而更之。七年，罷諸路承買土產稅場。初，罷江南路承買，而河東轉運司以為較元祐六年官鹽額增三萬餘緡，遂行之諸路。

In 1086, the Ministry of Revenue asked that the capital commercial tax office adopt the 1085 revenue of 552,261 strings as its new annual quota, effective the following year. In 1088, the quota was reset to the Tiansheng-era level, because the Ministry's method of averaging five years of increases had set targets too high for revenue to meet, prompting critics to demand revision. In 1092, the system of contracting out local-product tax stations was abolished empire-wide. Initially the Jiangnan circuit ended contracting, but the Hedong transport commission reported that official salt revenue had risen by more than 30,000 strings compared with 1091, and the practice was extended to all circuits.

八年，權蠲商人載米入京糶賣力勝之稅。先是，熙寧六年，蘇、湖歲稔，穀價比淮南十五，而商船以力勝稅不至，嘗命權蠲。惠止一方，未為定法。及汴泗垛場法行，穀船毋得增置，而力勝之稅益三之一。至是，蘇軾言：「法不稅五穀，請削去力勝錢之條，而行天聖免稅之制。」既而尚書省亦言在京穀貴，欲平其直，復權蠲之。後徽宗宣和中，以州縣災傷並贍給都下，亦一再免，旋復如舊；惟兩浙並東北鹽，以鹽事司之請，遂不復徵。

In 1093, the capacity-surplus tax on grain merchants shipping rice to the capital for sale was temporarily waived. Previously, in 1073, when Suzhou and Huzhou had bumper harvests and grain sold for one-fifteenth the price in Huainan, merchant ships stayed away because of the capacity-surplus tax, and a temporary waiver had been ordered. The relief applied only locally and was never made permanent law. When the Bian and Si stacking-yard regulations took effect, no additional grain boats were permitted, and the capacity-surplus tax was raised by one-third. At this point Su Shi argued: "The law exempts grain from taxation; I ask that the capacity-surplus levy be abolished and the Tiansheng-era exemption restored." The Secretariat soon added that grain in the capital was costly and that prices should be stabilized, and the tax was temporarily waived again. Later, during Emperor Huizong's Xuanhe reign, the tax was waived more than once to relieve disaster-stricken regions and supply the capital, then soon restored; only for the two Zhe circuits and northeastern salt regions, at the Salt Commission's request, was the levy permanently discontinued.

自哲宗即位，罷導洛物貨場。紹聖四年，藍從熙提舉京城所，欲復其事，令泗州及京師洛口各置垛場，並請復麵市、牛羊圈。詔下尚書省，久之遂寢。至是，提舉汴河堤岸王憲復言之，且請假溫、明州運船給用。命太府少卿鄭僅同詳度。明年，竟詔勿行。五年，令戶部取天下稅務五年所收之數，酌多寡為中制，頒諸路揭版示之，率十年一易；其增名額及多稅者，並論以違制。

When Emperor Zhezong came to the throne, the Guiding Luo goods depot was abolished. In 1097, Lan Congxi, commissioner of the Capital Office, sought to revive the system, proposing stacking yards at Sizhou and Luokou in the capital and restoration of the flour market and livestock pens. The proposal was referred to the Secretariat and eventually shelved. At this point Wang Xian, commissioner of Bian River embankments, revived the proposal and asked to borrow transport vessels from Wenzhou and Mingzhou. Vice Minister Zheng Jin of the Palace Storehouse was ordered to review the plan jointly. The following year an edict finally ordered that it not be carried out. In 1111, the Ministry of Revenue was ordered to average five years of tax receipts empire-wide into moderate quotas, post them on boards in every circuit, and revise them roughly every ten years; officials who added tax categories or over-collected were to be prosecuted for violating regulations.

大觀元年，凡典買牛畜、舟車之類未印契者，更期以百日，免倍稅。二年，詔在京諸門，凡民衣屨、穀菽、雞魚、蔬果、柴炭、瓷瓦器之類，並蠲其稅；歲終計所蠲數，令大觀庫給償。宣和二年，宮觀、寺院、臣僚之家商販，令關津搜閱，如元豐法輸稅，歲終以次數報轉運司取旨。初，元符令，品官供家服用物免稅。至建中靖國初，馬、牛、駝、驢、騾已不入服用例，而比年臣僚營私牟利者眾，宮觀寺院多有專降免稅之旨，皆以船艘賈販，故有是詔。漕臣劉既濟起應奉物，兩浙、淮南等路稅例外，增一分以供費；三年，詔罷之。凡以蠶織農具、耕牛至兩浙、江東者，給文憑蠲稅一年。四年，令諸路近歲所增稅錢，悉歸應奉司。七年，以歲歉之後，用物少而民艱食，在京及畿內油、炭、麵、布、絮稅並力勝錢並權免。提舉京東常平楊連奏：「本路牛價貴，田多荒萊，請令販牛至本路者，仍給文憑蠲稅，俟二年足如舊。」從之。

In 1107, contracts for pawned sales of livestock and vehicles without official seals were given a further hundred-day grace period exempt from penalty tax. In 1108, an edict exempted at all capital gates taxes on everyday goods such as clothing, grain, poultry, fish, produce, fuel, and pottery; at year's end the remitted amounts were calculated and reimbursed from the Daguan treasury. In 1120, commercial trade conducted by Daoist temples, Buddhist monasteries, and officials' households was ordered searched at passes and ferries and taxed under the Yuanfeng regulations, with annual reports to transport commissions for imperial approval. Under the Yuanfu regulations, ranked officials' household goods for personal use had been tax-exempt. By the Jianzhong Jingguo era, horses, cattle, and pack animals no longer qualified as personal-use goods, yet many officials had turned to private trade; temples and monasteries often held special tax exemptions—all shipping goods by boat—hence this edict. Transport commissioner Liu Jiji raised tribute goods; in the two Zhe circuits, Huainan, and elsewhere an extra tenth was added to regular taxes to cover expenses; In 1121, an edict abolished the surcharge. Anyone bringing silkworms, farm tools, or plow oxen to the two Zhe circuits and Jiangdong received a one-year tax exemption certificate. In 1122, all recent tax increases in every circuit were ordered diverted to the Tribute Service. In 1125, after poor harvests when goods were scarce and food costly, taxes on oil, charcoal, flour, cloth, and cotton in the capital and surrounding circuits, along with capacity-surplus levies, were all temporarily waived. Jingdong Ever-Normal commissioner Yang Lian reported: "Cattle are costly in this circuit and much land lies fallow; I ask that merchants bringing cattle here continue to receive tax exemption certificates until the supply is restored in two years." The court approved.

靖康元年詔：「都城物價未平，凡稅物，權更蠲稅一年。」臣僚上言：「祖宗舊制並政和新令，場務立額之法，並以五年增虧數較之，並增者取中數，並虧者取最高數，以為新額，故課息易給而商旅可通。近諸路轉運司不循其法，有益無損，致物價騰踴，官課愈負。請令諸路提刑下諸郡，準舊法厘正立額。」詔依所奏。

In 1126 an edict declared: "Prices in the capital remain unsettled; all commercial taxes are temporarily waived for one more year." Officials argued: "Under ancestral regulations and the Zhenghe reforms, tax-station quotas were set by comparing five years of receipts; when all years rose, the middle figure was taken; when all fell, the highest was taken—making quotas attainable and trade unimpeded. Recently transport commissions have ignored this method, raising quotas without ever lowering them, driving prices up while official revenue falls ever further short. We ask that judicial commissioners in every circuit order prefectures to reset quotas according to the old law." The court approved.

高宗建炎元年詔，販貨上京者免稅。明年又詔，販糧草入京抑稅者罪之；凡殘破州縣免竹木、磚瓦稅，北來歸正人及兩淮復業者亦免路稅。紹興三年，臨安火，免竹木稅。然當時都邑未奠，兵革未息，四方之稅，間有增置，及於江灣浦口量收海船稅，凡官司回易亦並收稅；而寬弛之令亦錯見焉，如諸路增置之稅場，山間迂僻之縣鎮，經理未定之州郡，悉罷而免之。又以稅網太密，減並者一百三十四，罷者九，免過稅者五，至於牛、米、薪、麵民間日用者並罷。

In 1127, Emperor Gaozong exempted merchants bringing goods to the capital from taxation. The following year another edict punished anyone who under-taxed grain and fodder brought to the capital; ravaged prefectures were exempted from taxes on timber and building materials; northerners who defected and those restoring farms on the two Huai were also exempted from road duties. In 1133, after a fire in Lin'an, taxes on timber were waived. Yet the capital was not yet secure and warfare continued; taxes were sometimes added across the realm, including sea-ship duties at Jiangwan and Pukou, and even government trading ventures were taxed; yet lenient measures also appeared in turn, abolishing newly added tax stations, remote mountain market towns, and prefectures not yet fully administered. Because the tax net was too dense, 134 stations were merged, 9 abolished, and 5 transit taxes waived; taxes on cattle, rice, firewood, flour, and other daily necessities were all ended.

孝宗繼誌，凡高宗省罷之未盡者，悉推行之；又以臨安府物價未平，免淳熙七年稅一半。光、寧以降，亦屢與放免商稅，或一年，或五月，或三月。凡遇火，放免竹木之稅亦然。光、寧嗣服，諸郡稅額皆累有放免。然當是時，雖寬大之旨屢頒，關市之征迭放，而貪吏並緣，苛取百出。私立稅場，算及緡錢、斗米、束薪、菜茹之屬，擅用稽察措置，添置專欄收檢。虛市有稅，空舟有稅，以食米為酒米，以衣服為布帛，皆有稅。遇士夫行李則搜囊發篋，目以興販。甚者貧民貿易瑣細於村落，指為漏稅，輒加以罪。空身行旅，亦白取百金，方紆路避之，則欄截叫呼；或有貨物，則抽分給賞，斷罪倍輸，倒囊而歸矣。聞者谘嗟，指為大小法場，與斯民相刃相靡刂，不啻仇敵，而其弊有不可勝言矣。

Emperor Xiaozong carried forward his predecessor's policy, fully implementing all tax reductions Gaozong had begun; and because prices in Lin'an remained unsettled, half of the 1180 commercial taxes were waived. From the Guang and Ning reigns onward, commercial taxes were also waived repeatedly—for a year, five months, or three months at a time. Timber taxes were likewise waived whenever fire broke out. Under the Guang and Ning emperors, tax quotas in the prefectures were repeatedly reduced. Yet even as lenient edicts were repeatedly issued and market duties repeatedly waived, greedy officials seized every opportunity and invented countless harsh exactions. They set up private tax stations, taxing strings of cash, piculs of rice, bundles of firewood, and vegetables, arbitrarily employing inspections and erecting special barriers to collect dues. Empty markets were taxed, empty boats were taxed; grain was counted as wine, clothing as cloth—all were taxed. Scholar-officials' luggage was searched and trunks opened on the pretext of illicit trade. In extreme cases poor villagers trading trifles were accused of tax evasion and immediately punished. Even travelers carrying nothing were forced to pay a hundred cash; when they tried to detour around barriers, they were intercepted and hectored; if they had goods, portions were seized as reward money, double fines imposed, and they went home with emptied purses. Onlookers groaned, calling the stations great and small execution grounds; officials preyed on the people like enemies, and the abuses were beyond counting.

市易之設，本漢平準，將以製物之低昂而均通之。其弊也，以官府作賈區，公取牙儈之利，而民不勝其煩矣。

The Market Purchase system was modeled on the Han Equalization policy, intended to stabilize prices and keep commerce flowing. Its abuse was that the government itself became a trading quarter, appropriating brokers' profits while the people could not bear the harassment.

熙寧三年，保平軍節度推官王韶倡為緣邊市易之說，丐假官錢為本。詔秦鳳路經略司以川交子易物貨給之，因命韶為本路帥司幹當兼領市易事。時欲移司於古渭城，李若愚等以為多聚貨以啟戎心，又妨秦州小馬、大馬私貿易，不可。文彥博、曾公亮、馮京皆韙之，韓絳亦以去秦州為非，唯王安石曰：「古渭置市易利害，臣雖不敢斷，然如若愚奏，必無可慮。」七月，詔轉運司詳度，復問陳升之。升之謂古渭極邊，恐啟群羌窺覬心。安石乃言：「今蕃戶富者，往往蓄緡錢二二十萬，彼尚不畏劫奪，豈朝廷威靈，乃至衰弱如此？今欲連生羌，則形勢欲張，應接欲近。古渭邊砦，便於應接，商旅並集，居者愈多，因建為軍，增兵馬，擇人守之，則形勢張矣。且蕃部得與官市，邊民無復逋負，足以懷來其心，因收其贏以助軍費，更辟荒土，異日可以聚兵。」時王安石為政，汲汲焉以財利兵革為先，其市易之說，已見於熙寧二年建議立均輸平準法之時，故王韶首迎合其意，而安石力主之，雖以李若愚、陳升之、韓絳諸人之議，而卒不可回。五年，遂詔出內帑錢帛，置市易務於京師。

In 1070, Wang Shao, staff officer of the Baoping military commission, proposed frontier market purchase and asked to borrow government funds as capital. The Qinfeng frontier commission was ordered to supply goods in exchange for Sichuan paper notes, and Wang Shao was appointed to manage market purchase affairs for the circuit. When they proposed moving the office to Guwei, Li Ruoyu and others argued that stockpiling goods would provoke the tribes and disrupt private horse trade at Qinzhou—it should not be done. Wen Yanbo, Zeng Gongliang, and Feng Jing all agreed; Han Jiang also opposed leaving Qinzhou; only Wang Anshi said, "I cannot judge the merits of market purchase at Guwei, but if Li Ruoyu is right, there is nothing to fear." In the seventh month the transport commission was ordered to review the plan, and Chen Shengzhi was consulted again. Shengzhi said Guwei lay at the extreme frontier and feared provoking Qiang ambitions. Anshi replied: "Wealthy tribal households today often hoard two or three hundred thousand strings of cash without fear of robbery—has imperial authority truly weakened so far? If we wish to win over the raw Qiang, we must extend our reach and draw our response closer. Guwei's frontier stockade is well placed for contact; as merchants gather and settlers increase, we can establish a garrison, add troops, and post capable commanders—thus extending our reach. When tribes can trade with the government, frontier people will no longer be in debt, winning their loyalty; profits can fund the army and open new land for future garrisons." Wang Anshi was then in power, urgently prioritizing finance and military reform; his market purchase idea had appeared as early as his 1069 proposal for balanced transport and equalization. Wang Shao catered to his aims and Anshi strongly backed him; despite objections from Li Ruoyu, Chen Shengzhi, and Han Jiang, the policy could not be reversed. In 1072, an edict ordered funds from the inner treasury and established a Market Purchase office in the capital.

先是，有魏繼宗者，自稱草澤，上言：「京師百貨無常價，貴賤相傾，富能奪，貧能與，乃可以為天下。今富人大姓，乘民之亟，牟利數倍，財既偏聚，國用亦屈。請假榷貨務錢，置常平市易司，擇通財之官任其責，求良賈為之轉易。使審知市物之價，賤則增價市之，貴則損價鬻之，因收餘息，以給公上。」於是中書奏在京置市易務官。凡貨之可市及滯於民而不售者，平其價市之，願以易官物者聽。若欲市於官，則度其抵而貸之錢，責期使償，半歲輸息十一，及歲倍之。凡諸司配率，並仰給焉。以呂嘉問為提舉，賜內庫錢百萬緡、京東路錢八十七萬緡為本。三司請立市易條，有「兼並之家，較固取利，有害新法，本務覺察，三司按治」之文，帝削去之。

Earlier, a man named Wei Jizong, calling himself a commoner, memorialized: "In the capital prices fluctuate wildly—the rich can corner markets and the poor can be aided; only then can the realm be governed. Today wealthy clans exploit the people's distress for several-fold profit; wealth concentrates in their hands while state revenues suffer. I ask to borrow funds from the monopoly goods office, establish an Ever-Normal Market Purchase bureau, appoint capable financial officials, and employ reliable merchants to trade. They should track market prices, buying when prices are low and selling when high, collecting surplus profit for the treasury." The Secretariat then proposed establishing Market Purchase officials in the capital. Marketable goods and those unsold among the people were to be bought at fair prices; those wishing to exchange for government goods were permitted. Merchants wishing to buy from the government received loans against collateral, due within a set term—interest of one part in eleven per half year, doubled for a full year. All agencies' apportioned requisitions were to be supplied from it. Lü Jiawen was appointed commissioner, with one million strings from the inner treasury and 870,000 from Jingdong as capital. The Three Departments proposed regulations including prosecution of monopolists who obstructed the new law; the emperor deleted that clause.

七月，以榷貨務為市易西務下界，市易務為東務上界，以在京商稅院、雜買務、雜賣場隸焉。又賜錢帛五十萬，於鎮洮軍置司。市易極苛細，道路怨謗者籍籍。上以諭安石，請宣示事實，帝以鬻冰、市梳樸等數事語之，安石皆辯解。後帝復言：「市易鬻果太煩碎，罷之如何？」安石謂：「立法當論有害於人與否，不當以煩碎廢也。」自是諸州上供藨席、黃蘆之類六十色，悉令計直，從民願鬻者市之以給用。

In the seventh month the Monopoly Goods Office became the western lower division of Market Purchase and the Market Purchase office the eastern upper division; the capital commercial tax office and miscellaneous purchase and sales yards were placed under it. Another 500,000 in cash and silks was granted to establish an office at Zhentao Army. Market Purchase regulations were extremely petty, and complaints along the roads were widespread. The emperor told Anshi to clarify the facts, citing sales of ice and combs among other complaints; Anshi defended them all. Later the emperor said again, "Market Purchase in fruit is too trivial—should we abolish it?" Anshi replied, "Legislation should be judged by whether it harms people, not abolished for being trivial." Thereafter sixty types of tribute goods such as rush mats and yellow reeds from the prefectures were priced and bought from willing sellers for official use.

六年，詔在京市易幹當公事孫迪同兩浙、淮東轉運司，議置杭州市易務利病以聞。其後以市易上界所償內帑錢二十萬緡假之為本。又賜夔州路轉運司度僧牒五百，置市易於黔州，選本路在任已替官監之，仍以知州或通判提舉。令在京市易務及開封府司錄同詳度諸行利病，於是詳定所請：「約諸行利入薄厚，輸免行錢以祿吏，蠲其供官之物。禁中所須，並下雜賣場、雜買務。置市司估物價低昂，凡內外官司欲占物價，悉於是乎取決。」從之。改提舉在京市易務為都提舉市易司，諸州市易務皆隸焉。又詔三司幹當公事李杞等同詳度成都置市易務。

In 1073, Sun Di of the capital Market Purchase office was ordered with the two Zhe and Huaidong transport commissions to report on establishing Market Purchase at Hangzhou. Later 200,000 strings repaid to the inner treasury by the upper division were lent as capital. Five hundred monk certificates were granted to the Kuizhou transport commission; Market Purchase was established at Qianzhou, supervised by circuit officials past and present under the prefect or vice-prefect. The capital Market Purchase office and Kaifeng registrar were ordered to review guild practices; their proposal: "Assess guild profits, collect exemption fees to pay clerks, and remit goods supplied to government. Palace requisitions were all routed through the miscellaneous sales and purchase offices. A market office was established to assess prices; all government agencies seeking price references were to rely on it." The court approved. The capital Market Purchase commissioner was renamed Director of the Market Purchase Bureau, with all prefectural offices subordinate to it. Li Qi of the Three Departments was also ordered to review establishing Market Purchase at Chengdu.

七年，帝與輔臣論及成都市易事。馮京曰：「曩因榷市物，致王小波之亂，今頗以市易為言。」安石曰：「彼以饑民眾，官不之恤，相聚為盜耳。」帝問：「李杞行邪？」安石曰：「未也。然保市易必不能致亂。」帝猶慮蜀人駭擾，安石謂：「已遣使乃遽罷，豈不為四方笑？」乃已。然其後竟罷杞等詳度。

In 1074 the emperor discussed Chengdu Market Purchase with his chief ministers. Feng Jing said, "Monopolizing market goods once caused Wang Xiaobo's rebellion; today there is much complaint about Market Purchase." Anshi replied, "That was because famine victims were numerous and officials failed to relieve them—they banded together as robbers, nothing more." The emperor asked, "Has Li Qi departed?" Anshi said, "Not yet. But I guarantee Market Purchase cannot cause disorder." The emperor still feared alarming the people of Shu; Anshi said, "We have already sent an envoy—if we stop now, will we not be mocked throughout the realm?" And the matter rested there. Yet afterward Li Qi and his colleagues' review was finally cancelled.

三月，詔權三司使曾布、翰林學士呂惠卿同究詰市易事。先是，帝出手詔付布，謂市易司市物，頗害小民之業，眾言喧嘩。布乃引監市易務魏繼宗之言，以為呂嘉問多取息以幹賞，商旅所有者盡收，市肆所無者必索，率賤市貴鬻，廣裒贏餘，是挾官府為兼並也。王安石具奏，明其不然。乃更令惠卿偕布究詰之。帝尋復以手劄賜布，令求對，布即上行人所訴，並疏惠卿奸欺狀，且言：「臣自立朝以來，每聞德音，未嘗不欲以王道治天下，今市易之為虐，凜凜乎間架、除陌之事矣。嘉問奏：『近遣官往湖南販茶，陝西販鹽，兩浙販紗，皆未敢計息。』臣以謂如此政事，書之簡牘，不獨唐、虞、三代所無，曆觀秦、漢以來衰亂之世，恐未之有也。」四月，布復陳薛向罪茶儈不當，帝惻然谘嗟；及言三司決責商人多濫，時帝猶必欲按治。而安石主用惠卿不可去，蓋謀變其事也。帝疑焉，故仍以屬布。

In the third month Zeng Bu, acting Three Departments commissioner, and Hanlin academician Lü Huiqing were ordered jointly to investigate Market Purchase. Earlier the emperor had handed Bu a personal edict saying Market Purchase harmed common people's livelihoods and provoked widespread outcry. Bu cited supervisor Wei Jizong, charging that Lü Jiawen inflated interest to win rewards, seized all merchants possessed, demanded what shops lacked, bought cheap and sold dear, and amassed profits—using government power to monopolize trade. Wang Anshi submitted a full rebuttal. Huiqing was then ordered to join Bu in the investigation. The emperor soon sent Bu another personal note ordering an audience; Bu submitted merchants' complaints and detailed Huiqing's deceit, saying, "Since entering court I have always wished to govern by the kingly way; today Market Purchase's cruelty rivals the Tang jianjia and chumo exactions. Jiawen reported, 'Officials were recently sent to sell tea in Hunan, salt in Shaanxi, and yarn in the two Zhe circuits—none dared yet calculate interest.' Such governance, I believe, is unknown not only in the age of Yao and Shun but in every decadent age since Qin and Han." In the fourth month Bu again argued that Xue Xiang had wrongly punished tea brokers; the emperor sighed in sympathy; and said the Three Departments' punishments of merchants were mostly excessive; yet the emperor still insisted on proceeding. But Anshi insisted Huiqing must stay—likely plotting to change the outcome. The emperor was doubtful and therefore kept the matter with Bu.

既而中書奏事已，帝論及市易，且曰：「朝廷設此，本欲為平準之法以便民，今正爾相反，使中下之民失業若此，宜修補其法。」令元詳定呂嘉問、吳安持同韓維、孫永問行人輸錢免行利病。參知政事馮京曰：「開封祥符縣給民錢，有出息抵當銀絹米麥、緩急喪葬之目七八種。其初給錢，往往願請，積數既多，實艱輸送。」帝曰：「如此，吾民安得泰然也？」時布與惠卿方究市易事，率數日一對。帝初是布言，已而從惠卿之請，拘魏繼宗於開封府。既而布與惠卿即東府再詰行人，所訴狀如前不變。而安石懇求去位，引惠卿執政。

When the Secretariat finished its report, the emperor discussed Market Purchase and said, "We established this to benefit the people through equalization; now it does the opposite, driving middle and lower classes from their livelihoods—the law must be amended." He ordered Lü Jiawen and Wu Anchi with Han Wei and Sun Yong to review merchants' payment of transit exemption fees. Vice Grand Councillor Feng Jing said, "Kaifeng's Xiangfu county lends money to the people in seven or eight categories—with interest, collateral in silver, silk, grain, and provisions for emergencies and funerals. At first people eagerly borrowed; once debts accumulated, repayment became truly difficult." The emperor said, "How can our people live in peace like this?" Bu and Huiqing were then investigating Market Purchase, meeting the emperor every few days. The emperor at first sided with Bu; then, at Huiqing's request, detained Wei Jizong at Kaifeng prefecture. Bu and Huiqing then questioned merchants again at the Eastern Hall; their complaints were unchanged. Anshi then earnestly requested to leave office and brought Huiqing into power.

提舉楚州市易蔣之奇奏：「監務王景彰榷市商人物非法，及虛作中糴入務，立詭名糴之，白輸息錢，謂之『幹息』；又抑賈販毋得至他郡，多為留難。」帝謂輔臣曰：「景彰違法害人，宜即治其罪。」時呂惠卿已參朝政，而究詰市易未竟，詔促之，惠卿請令中書悉取桉牘異同以奏。後二日，布對延和殿，條祈先後所陳，並較治平、熙寧出入錢物數以聞。帝方慮歲費浸廣，令布送中書。五月，乃詔章惇、曾孝寬即軍器監鞫布所究市易事，又令戶房會財賦數，與布所陳異；而呂嘉問亦以雜買務多入月息不覺，皆從公坐有差。未幾，布褫職，與嘉問俱出守郡，魏繼宗仍奪秩勒停。初，市易之建，布實預之。後揣上意有疑，遂急治嘉問，而惠卿與布有夙怨，故卒擠之，而市易如故。

Chuzhou Market Purchase commissioner Jiang Zhiqi reported: "Supervisor Wang Jingzhang illegally seized merchants' goods, fabricated central purchases, used false names to buy grain, and paid interest under the table as 'dry interest'; he also blocked merchants from reaching other prefectures and created many obstructions." The emperor told his ministers, "Jingzhang broke the law and harmed people—he should be punished at once." Lü Huiqing had already joined the government, but the Market Purchase investigation was unfinished; when urged to complete it, Huiqing asked the Secretariat to gather all case records and report discrepancies. Two days later Bu reported at Yanhe Hall, summarizing his prior statements and comparing Zhiping and Xining revenue figures. The emperor, concerned that annual expenses were growing, ordered Bu to send his report to the Secretariat. In the fifth month Zhang Dun and Zeng Xiaokuan at the Armaments Directorate were ordered to interrogate Bu's investigation; the accounts office tallied revenues that differed from Bu's figures; Lü Jiawen was also punished because the miscellaneous purchase office had accepted unrecorded monthly interest—all received differentiated penalties for collective fault. Soon Bu was dismissed and sent to a prefecture, as was Jiawen; Wei Jizong was stripped of rank and suspended. Bu had actually helped establish Market Purchase in the first place. Later sensing the emperor's doubts, he hurriedly prosecuted Jiawen; Huiqing's old grudge against Bu ensured his downfall, while Market Purchase continued unchanged.

三司使章惇請假內藏錢五百萬緡，令市易司有幹局者，分四路入中，計見鹽引及乘賤糴買。詔假二百萬緡。八年，復呂嘉問提舉市易。二月，鳳翔、大名、真定府、永興、安肅軍，秦、瀛、定、越、真州，並置市易司。以惠州阜民監錢十萬緡給廣州市易務，司農寺坊場錢三十萬緡給鄆州市易。九年，又以在京市易司物貨十五萬緡給熙河市易司。九月，中書言：「市易息錢並市例錢，總收百三十三萬二千緡有奇。詔嘉問、安持等推恩有差。自後凡二年一較。十年，定上界本錢以七百萬緡為額，不足，以歲所收息益之；其貸內帑錢，歲償以息二十萬緡。

Three Departments commissioner Zhang Dun asked to borrow five million strings from the inner treasury for Market Purchase agents to bid on four routes, buying salt certificates and grain when prices were low. Two million strings were lent by edict. In 1075 Lü Jiawen was restored as Market Purchase commissioner. In the second month Market Purchase bureaus were established at Fengxiang, Daming, Zhending, Yongxing, Ansujun, and the prefectures of Qin, Ying, Ding, Yue, and Zhen. 100,000 strings from Huizhou's Fumin prison funded Guangzhou Market Purchase; 300,000 from the Ministry of Agriculture funded Yunzhou Market Purchase. In 1076 another 150,000 strings in goods from the capital Market Purchase bureau were sent to the Xihe bureau. In the ninth month the Secretariat reported: "Market Purchase interest and market-rate revenues totaled more than 1,332,000 strings. Jiawen, Anchi, and others received differentiated imperial rewards by edict. Thereafter, accounts were reconciled every two years. In the tenth year (1077), the capital for the upper circuit was capped at seven million strings of cash, with any shortfall made up from annual interest receipts. Loans from the inner treasury were repaid at twenty thousand strings per year from interest earnings.

元豐元年，以都提舉王居卿請，令貸市易錢貨者，許用金帛等為抵，收息毋過一分二厘，不及年者月計之，願皆得錢或欲以物貨兼給者聽。市易司請遣官以物貨至諸路貿易，十萬緡以上期以二年，二十萬緡以上三年，斂及三分者比遞年推恩，八分者理為任，期盡不及者勿賞，官吏廩給並罷。

In 1078, at the request of chief superintendent Wang Juqing, borrowers of Market Purchase capital were allowed to pledge gold, silk, and similar goods as collateral. Interest was capped at twelve per thousand per annum, calculated monthly for loans under a year; applicants could take the full amount in cash or accept a mixed payment in cash and goods. The Market Purchase Bureau proposed sending officials to trade state goods in the circuits: tours of one hundred thousand strings or more had a two-year deadline, two hundred thousand or more had three years. Officials who returned thirty percent profit received preferment by year of seniority; eighty percent counted toward tenure qualification. Those who missed their targets received no reward, and official salaries and allowances on such tours were withdrawn.

二年，經制熙河路邊防財用李憲言：蕃賈與牙儈私市，其貨皆由他路避稅入秦州。乃令秦熙河岷州、通遠軍五市易務，募牙儈引蕃貨赴市易務中賈，私市者許糾告，賞倍所告之數。以田宅抵市易錢久不償者，估實直，如賣坊場、河渡法；若未輸錢者，官收其租息，在京市易務亦如之。

In 1079, Li Xian, commissioner for Xijing frontier finances, reported that Tibetan merchants and their brokers were dealing privately, routing goods through other roads to evade taxes before they reached Qinzhou. The court then set up five Market Purchase offices in Qinzhou, Xihe, Minzhou, and Tongyuan—recruiting brokers to channel Tibetan goods into official markets at regulated prices—and allowed informants against private trade, paying rewards of double the amount reported. For debtors who had pledged homes and land for Market Purchase loans and fallen long in arrears, property was appraised at true value and sold under the same rules used for workshops and ferry concessions. When the principal had not yet been repaid, the state collected rent and interest on the property; the capital Market Purchase office followed the same practice.

三年，詔免行月納錢不及百者皆免，凡除八千六百五十四人。九月，王居卿又言：「市易法有三：結保貸請，一也；契要金銀為抵，二也；貿遷物貨，三也。三者惟保貸法行之久，負失益多，往歲罷貸錢而物貨如故。請自今所貸歲約毋過二百萬緡，聽舊戶貸請以相濟續，非舊戶惟用抵當、貿遷之法。」詔中書立法以聞。於是中書奏：「在京物貨，許舊戶貸請，斂而復散，通所負毋過三百萬緡，諸路毋過四之一。」詔如所奏。是歲，經制熙河邊防財用司會其置司以來所收息：元豐初四十一萬四千六百二十六緡、石，次年六十八萬四千九十九緡、石。四年，從都提舉賈青請，於新舊城外內置四抵當所，遣官掌之，罷市易上界等處抵當以便民。

In 1080, an edict exempted all Exemption-fee payers whose monthly installment fell below a hundred cash—8,654 people in all were relieved. In the ninth month, Wang Juqing again memorialized: "The Market Purchase system has three parts: mutual-guarantee lending is the first; pledged loans secured by gold and silver contracts are the second; and government trading and transshipment of goods is the third. Of the three, only the guarantee-lending program had run longest and bad debt had kept mounting. Lending had been suspended the year before, yet goods trading continued unchanged. He asked that annual lending be capped at about two million strings, that established customers alone receive loans to keep the pool revolving, and that new customers be limited to collateral loans and official trade. The emperor ordered the Secretariat to draft regulations and report back. The Secretariat then proposed: in the capital, established merchants might borrow under the gather-and-release system, with total outstanding debt capped at three million strings; in the circuits, at one-fourth of that amount. The emperor approved as proposed. That year the Xijing frontier finances office totaled interest since its founding: 414,626 strings and shi in early Yuanfeng, 684,099 the following year. In 1081, following Jia Qing's proposal, four pawn offices were established inside and outside the inner and outer city walls under appointed managers, replacing the inconvenient pawn counters attached to the upper Market Purchase circuit.

五年，詔外內市易務所負錢，寬以三歲，均月限以輸，限內罰息並除之。先是，王安禮在開封日，有負市易錢者，累訴於庭。安禮既執政，言於帝曰：「市易法行，取息滋多，而輸官不時者有罰息，民至窮困。願詔蠲之。」帝曰：「群臣未有為朕言者，其令民以限輸，免其罰息。」安禮退，批詔加「內外」字。蔡確曰：「方帝有旨，無外內字，公欲增詔邪？」安禮曰：「亦不止言內字。」卒加之。八月，置饒州景德鎮瓷窯博易務。

In 1082, an edict gave inner and outer Market Purchase debtors three years to repay in equal monthly installments and canceled all penalty interest due within that period. Earlier, while Wang Anli served in Kaifeng, debtors of Market Purchase loans had repeatedly brought suit in his court. Once in office, Wang Anli told the emperor, "Under the Market Purchase system interest revenue keeps rising, but borrowers who miss payment deadlines face penalty interest until the common people are driven to destitution. I beg that Your Majesty issue an edict remitting these penalties." The emperor replied, "No minister has raised this with me before. Let the people repay on schedule and forgive their penalty interest." When Wang Anli withdrew, he annotated the draft edict to add the words "throughout the realm." Cai Que objected: "The emperor's command made no distinction between capital and provinces. Do you mean to broaden the edict?" Wang Anli answered, "I am not adding only 'inner' either." The wording was added in the end. In the eighth month, a state trading office for porcelain kilns was established at Jingdezhen in Raozhou.

六年，蘭州增置市易務，以通蕃漢貿易。七年，改市易下界為榷貨務。令諸州旬估物價既定，報提舉司，提舉司下所部州，州下所屬，募民出抵或錢以市，收息毋過二分。詔諸路常平司錢留其半，以二分為市易抵當。蓋自五年賈青以平準物價與金銀之類，行抵當於畿縣，次年行之諸路，以常平、市易賒貸及寬剩錢為本，五路各十萬緡，餘路五萬緡。至是，復有是詔。若無抵當而物貨宜易者，亦聽變鬻。八年，罷諸鎮砦市易抵當。八月，詔諸郡抵當，有取息薄、可濟民乏者存之，其餘抵當并州縣市易並罷。

In 1083, Lanzhou gained an additional Market Purchase office to promote trade between Tibetans and Han Chinese. In 1084, the lower Market Purchase circuit was renamed the Monopoly Goods Bureau. Prefectures were to set prices every ten days, report through the supervisory commission to subordinate counties, and recruit merchants to trade with collateral or cash—interest capped at twenty per thousand. An edict required each circuit to keep half its Ever-Normal treasury funds and allocate twenty percent for Market Purchase pawn offices. Since 1082 Jia Qing had used price stabilization and gold and silver collateral to run pawn offices in the metropolitan counties, extending the practice to the circuits the next year with capital from Ever-Normal funds, Market Purchase lending, and surplus funds—one hundred thousand strings in each of the five major circuits, fifty thousand in the rest. The present edict reaffirmed that policy. Goods suitable for resale but without collateral might still be sold off. In 1085, Market Purchase pawn offices in garrison towns were abolished. In the eighth month, an edict preserved pawn offices in counties where low interest genuinely relieved the poor; all other pawn offices and county-level Market Purchase bureaus were shut down.

元祐元年，內外監督市易及坊場淨利錢，許以所入息並罰錢比計，若及官本者，並釋之。紹聖四年，三省言熙寧興置市易，元祐一切罷去，不原立法之意。詔戶部、太府寺詳度，復置市易務，惟以錢交市，收息毋過二分，勿令貸請。元符三年，改市易務為平準務，戶部、太府寺市易案改為平準案。尚書省言：「平準務官吏等給費多，並遣官市物，搔動於外，近官鬻石炭，市直遽增，皆不便民。」詔罷平準務及官鬻石炭，其在官物貨，令有司轉易錢鈔，償元給之所。

In 1086, supervisors of Market Purchase and workshop franchises inside and outside the capital were allowed to offset interest and penalty payments against principal; debts satisfied to the official capital were forgiven. In 1097, the Three Departments observed that Market Purchase, created under Xining, had been entirely dismantled under Yuanyou in a way that betrayed the law's original purpose. The Finance Ministry and Palace Storehouse were ordered to study restoration: Market Purchase offices would trade only in cash at no more than twenty per thousand interest, with lending prohibited. In 1100, Market Purchase bureaus became Equilibrium bureaus, and the related sections in the Finance Ministry and Palace Storehouse were renamed accordingly. The Ministry of Revenue reported that Equilibrium staff consumed too much in salaries, that dispatched buyers disrupted markets abroad, and that recent official coal sales had driven prices sharply up—all to the public's detriment. The edict abolished the Equilibrium bureaus and official coal sales; remaining stock was to be liquidated for paper money and returned to the treasuries that had supplied the funds.

崇寧元年，戶部奏：平準務錢物毋得他司移用。二年，以平準為南北兩務，如舊分置官吏。歲終考察能否，行勸沮法。五年，郡縣應置市易者，凡歲收息，官吏用度之餘，及千緡以上置官監，五百緡以上令場務兼領，餘並罷。先是，嘗詔府界萬戶縣及路在衝要，市易抵當已設官置局；其不及萬戶、非衝要，並諸鎮有官監而商販所會，並如元豐令監當官兼領。至是，戶部復詳度以聞，遂行其議。建炎二年，言者以為得不償費，遂罷之，而以其錢輸左藏庫，惟抵當庫仍舊。

In 1102, the Finance Ministry ruled that Equilibrium funds and goods could not be reallocated to other agencies. In 1103, the Equilibrium service was split into northern and southern bureaus with officials assigned as before. Year-end reviews governed rewards and penalties under the encouragement-and-restraint rules. In 1106, counties that still ran Market Purchase were tiered by annual profit after expenses: a thousand strings or more warranted a dedicated supervisor; five hundred or more, a depot officer's concurrent duty; below that, closure. Earlier edicts had required full Market Purchase and pawn offices in capital counties of ten thousand households or more and at strategic posts on the routes. Smaller counties, non-critical stations, and market towns with existing garrison officers were to combine the duties under one Yuanyou-era supervisor as Jia Qing had arranged. The Finance Ministry now reviewed and memorialized again, and the plan was carried out. In 1128, critics said the offices cost more than they earned; they were abolished and their funds sent to the Left Treasury, while pawn offices alone were kept.

紹興元年，罷諸州軍免行錢及行戶供應，見任官買賣並依時直，違者以盜論。四年，兩浙轉運司檄婺州市禦爐炭，須胡桃紋、鵓鳩色，守臣王居正以為言。上曰：「隆冬附火，取溫暖而已，豈問炭之紋色乎？」命罷之，諸類此者並禁止焉。十三年，蠲雷、化、高、融、宜、廉、邕、欽、賀、貴免行錢。十四年，以開州兩縣在夔部尤為僻遠，減免行錢之半。十五年，以知漢陽軍韓昕言，諸路收免行錢，定數外多取一文以上，以擅增稅賦法罪之。十七年，蠲百姓見輸免行錢三分之一。十九年，南郊赦，盡蠲百姓免行錢欠。是後凡赦皆然。二十五年，罷見輸免行錢，禁下行買物，以害及小商、敷於鄉村故也。

In 1131, Exemption fees and designated-supplier obligations were ended statewide; serving officials had to buy at market rates, with violations punished as theft. In 1134, the Liangzhe transport commission demanded for Wuzhou imperial furnaces coal with walnut grain pattern and hawk-dove coloration; prefect Wang Juzheng objected. The emperor said, "In midwinter one lights a brazier for warmth—who cares about the pattern on the coal? He ordered the requirement canceled and forbade similar demands henceforth. In 1143, Exemption fees were remitted in Leizhou, Huazhou, Gaozhou, Rongzhou, Yizhou, Lianzhou, Yongzhou, Qinzhou, Hezhou, and Guizhou. In 1144, the two counties of Kaizhou in the Kuai region, being exceptionally remote, had their Exemption fees cut by half. In 1145, after Han Xin, prefect of Hanyang, warned that any circuit collecting more than one cash above the fixed Exemption fee would be charged under the law against unauthorized levies. In 1147, one-third of current Exemption fees owed by the people was remitted. The 1149 southern suburban amnesty canceled all outstanding Exemption fees. Every subsequent amnesty did the same. In 1155, current Exemption fees were abolished and lower officials were forbidden to requisition goods locally, because the practice had hurt peddlers and burdened the countryside.

淳熙元年，罷市令司。詔臨安府及屬縣交易儈保錢減十之五。七年，諸路州縣交易儈保錢，亦以十分為率，與減五分。

In 1174, the Market Magistrate bureau was abolished. Broker-guarantee fees in Lin'an and its counties were cut by half. In 1180, circuit broker-guarantee fees were likewise cut by fifty percent.

嘉定二年，以臣僚言，輦轂之下，買物於鋪戶，無從得錢。凡臨安府未支物價，令即日盡數給還，是後買物須給見錢，違許陳訴於台。

In 1209, officials reported that in the capital, shops supplying government purchases could not obtain payment. All unpaid Lin'an purchase debts were to be settled at once; thereafter cash on delivery was mandatory, with appeals to the Censorate for violations.

嘉熙三年，臣僚言：「今官司以官價買物，行鋪以時直計之，什不得二三。重以遷延歲月而不償，胥卒並緣之無藝，積日既久，類成白著，至有遷居以避其擾、改業以逃其害者。甚而蔬菜魚肉，日用所需瑣瑣之物，販夫販婦所資錐刀以營斗升者，亦皆以官價強取之。終日營營，而錢本俱成乾沒。商旅不行，衣食路絕。望特降睿旨，凡諸路州縣官司買物，並以時直；不許輒用官價，違者以贓定罪。」從之。

In 1239, officials reported: "Agencies now pay official schedule prices, while shops reckon at market rates—so merchants receive barely twenty or thirty percent of fair value. Payment is delayed for months or years while clerks and runners extort without limit; debts become outright confiscation. Some merchants move away or change trades to escape. Even vegetables, fish, and meat—the petty goods of hawkers who live on pennies a day—are seized at official prices. They toil all day yet never recover principal or profit. Traveling merchants stop coming; livelihoods are cut off. We beg a special edict that every prefecture and county purchase at market price; and that use of official schedule prices be forbidden, violations punished as graft." The court agreed.

均輸之法，所以通天下之貨，制為輕重斂散之術，使輸者既便，而有無得以懋遷焉。

Balanced Transport was meant to move goods throughout the empire, regulating abundance and scarcity so that suppliers were unburdened and surplus and shortage could be actively redressed.

熙寧二年，製置三司條例司言：「天下財用無餘，典領之官拘於弊法，內外不相知，盈虛不相補。諸路上供，歲有常數。豐年便道，可以多致而不能贏；年儉物貴，難於供億而不敢不足。遠方有倍蓰之輸，中都有半價之鬻，徒使富商大賈乘公私之急，以擅輕重斂散之權。今發運使實總六路賦入，其職以製置茶、鹽、礬、酒稅為事，軍儲國用，多所仰給。宜假以錢貨，資其用度，周知六路財賦之有無而移用之。凡糴買稅斂上供之物，皆得徙貴就賤，用近易遠。令預知中都帑藏年支見在之定數，所當供辦者，得以從便變易蓄買，以待上令。稍收輕重斂散之權歸之公上，而制其有無，以便轉輸，省勞費，去重斂，寬農民。庶幾國用可足，民財不匱。」詔本司具條例以聞，而以發運使薛向領均輸平準事，賜內藏錢五百萬緡、上供米三百萬石。時議慮其為擾，多以為非。向既董其事，乃請設置官屬，神宗使自擇之。向於是辟劉忱、衛琪、孫珪、張穆之、陳倩為屬，又請有司具六路歲當上供數、中都歲用及見儲度可支歲月，凡當計置歲何，皆預降有司。從之。

In 1069, the Fiscal Reform Commission reported: "National revenue is exhausted. Controllers are trapped in obsolete rules; capital and provinces do not coordinate, and surplus and deficit are never balanced. Each circuit's annual tribute quota is fixed. In good years convenient routes could yield more than the quota, but the surplus could not be retained; in lean years when goods were dear, delivery was hard yet shortfall was not permitted. Remote regions pay multiples while the capital sells at half price, leaving great merchants alone to profit from public and private distress and monopolize the power to manipulate prices. The Dispatch Commissioner already oversees tax intake from the six circuits and manages tea, salt, alum, and wine levies on which military stores and the civil budget largely depend. He should be given capital, informed of every circuit's resources, and empowered to shift funds where needed. All tribute goods—whether purchased or levied—might be procured where cheap rather than dear and nearby rather than distant. Foreknowing the capital treasury's annual outlays and reserves, he could stockpile and trade flexibly until orders came from above. The state would gradually reclaim control over supply and demand, ease transport, cut costs, lift excessive levies, and relieve farmers. Thus the treasury might be filled without exhausting the people. The commission was ordered to draft regulations. Xue Xiang, the Dispatch Commissioner, was placed in charge of Balanced Transport and price stabilization, with five million strings from the inner treasury and three million shi of tribute grain. Critics feared disruption, and opposition was widespread. Once in charge, Xue requested staff; Shenzong let him choose his own aides. He appointed Liu Chen, Wei Qi, Sun Gui, Zhang Muzhi, and Chen Qian as deputies and required agencies to submit the six circuits' annual tribute quotas, capital expenditures, and reserves—every figure needed for yearly planning. The emperor approved.

八月，侍御史劉琦、侍御史裏行錢顗等言：「向小人，假以貨泉，任其變易，縱有所入，不免奪商賈之利。」琦、顗皆坐貶。條例司檢詳文字蘇轍言：「昔漢武外事四夷，內興宮室，財用匱竭，力不能支，用賈人桑弘羊之說，買賤賣貴，謂之均輸。雖曰民不加賦而國用饒足，然法術不正，吏緣為奸，掊克日深，民受其病。孝昭既立，學者爭排其說，霍光順民所欲，從而予之，天下歸心，遂以無事。今此論復興，眾口紛然，皆謂其患必甚於漢。何者？方今聚斂之臣，材智方略，未見有桑弘羊比；而朝廷破壞規矩，解縱繩墨，使得馳騁自由，唯利是嗜，其害必有不可勝言者矣。」轍亦坐去官。

In the eighth month, Attending Censor Liu Qi and trainee Attending Censor Qian Yi memorialized: "Xue Xiang is unworthy. Lending him state funds to trade at will may bring revenue but will only strip merchants of their profits." Liu Qi and Qian Yi were both demoted for their remonstrance. Su Zhe of the commission staff wrote: "Under Emperor Wu, wars abroad and palaces at home exhausted the treasury. He adopted the merchant Sang Hongyang's scheme—buy cheap, sell dear—called Balanced Transport. Though marketed as adding no levies while filling the state, the method was unsound. Officials preyed on it; extortion deepened daily and the people bore the wound. After Emperor Zhao's accession, scholars denounced the policy; Huo Guang followed the people's wish and abolished it; the realm's hearts returned and peace followed. Now the policy revives amid widespread outcry that its harms will surely exceed those of Han times. Why? Among today's revenue-minded officials, none approaches Sang Hongyang in ability or design; yet the court has torn down the guardrails and turned them loose to chase profit alone, and the damage will surely prove beyond reckoning." Su Zhe too was dismissed from office.

於是知諫院範純仁言：「向憸巧刻薄，不可為發運使。人主當務農桑、節用，不當言利。」自後，罷純仁諫職，而諫官李常復論均輸不便，權開封府推官蘇軾亦言：「均輸徙貴就賤，用近易遠。然廣置官屬，多出緡錢，豪商大賈皆疑而不敢動，以為雖不明言販賣，既已許之變易，變易既行，而不與商賈爭利，未之聞也。夫商賈之事，曲折難行，其買也先期而予錢，其賣也後期而取直，多方相濟，委曲相通，倍稱之息，由此而得。今先設官置吏，簿書廩祿，為費已厚，非良不售，非賄不行。是官買之價比民必貴，及其賣也，弊復如前，商賈之利，何緣而得？朝廷不知慮此，乃捐五百萬緡以予之。此錢一出，恐不可復。縱使其間薄有所獲，而征商之額所損必多矣。」

Then Fan Chunren, head of the Remonstrance Bureau, said, "Xue Xiang is sly and harsh—he must not serve as transport commissioner. A sovereign should promote agriculture and thrift, not profit." Fan Chunren was removed from the remonstrance post. Li Chang again attacked Balanced Transport as unworkable. Su Shi, acting Kaifeng investigator, said, "Balanced Transport shifts goods from dear to cheap markets and favors the near over the far— yet it staffs a vast bureaucracy and spends heavily in cash, so great merchants hang back in suspicion: though buying and selling are not named outright, exchange is authorized—and once the state trades, who has ever heard of it not competing with merchants for profit? Commerce runs on tangled, delicate practice: buyers pay in advance, sellers collect later, parties help one another through twists of credit—and doubled returns come from that art. Now the state erects offices and clerks first; ledgers and salaries already swell the cost—goods won't move without quality, deals won't close without bribes. Official purchase prices must exceed private ones; when the state sells, the old abuses return—how can merchants still earn? The court ignored these concerns and handed over five million strings of cash. Once that money is spent, it may never come back. Even if the scheme yields a little, the loss in commercial tax revenue will surely be far greater."

帝方惑於安石之說，言皆不行。乃以向為天章閣待制，遣太常少卿羅拯為使，手詔賜向曰：「政事之先，理財為急。朕托卿以東南賦入，皆得消息盈虛、翕張斂散之。而卿忠誠內固，能倡舉職業，導揚朕意，底於成績，朕甚嘉之。覽奏慮流言致惑，朕心匪石，豈易轉也？卿其濟之以強，終之以不倦，以稱朕意。」然均輸後迄不能成。

The emperor was still swayed by Wang Anshi's views, and none of these remonstrances took effect. Xue Xiang was made a Tianzhang Pavilion academician; Vice Minister of Rites Luo Zheng was dispatched with a personal edict: "In governance, finance comes first—managing revenue is urgent. We entrust you with the southeast's revenue so you may master its ebb and flow—when to gather and when to release. Your loyalty runs deep; you have led the work forward and carried out Our intent to real results—We commend you warmly. In your memorial you fear rumor may sow doubt—Our resolve is not stone, easily shifted. Press on with force, finish without fatigue, and fulfill Our intent." Yet Balanced Transport never came to fruition.

互市舶法自漢初與南越通關市，而互市之制行焉。後漢通交易於烏桓、北單于、鮮卑，北魏立互市於南陲，隋、唐通貿易於西北。開元定令，載其條目，後唐亦然。而高麗、回鶻、黑水諸國，又各以風土所產與中國交易。

Mutual border markets and maritime trade regulations began in early Han, when frontier trade with Nanyue opened and the mutual-market system took shape. Later Han traded with the Wuhuan, Northern Chanyu, and Xianbei; Northern Wei set mutual markets on the southern frontier; Sui and Tang extended trade into the northwest. The Kaiyuan code codified the articles; Later Tang followed the same pattern. Koryŏ, the Uyghurs, Heishui Mohe, and others likewise traded native products with China.

宋初，循周制，與江南通市。乾德二年，禁商旅毋得渡江，於建安、漢陽、蘄口置三榷署，通其交易；內外群臣輒遣人往江、浙販易者，沒入其貨。緣江百姓及煎鹽亭戶，恣其樵漁，所造屨席之類，榷署給券，聽渡江販易。開寶三年，徙建安榷署於揚州。江南平，榷署雖存，止掌茶貨。四年，置市舶司於廣州，後又於杭、明州置司。凡大食、古邏、闍婆、占城、勃泥、麻逸、三佛齋諸蕃並通貨易，以金銀、緡錢、鉛錫、雜色帛、瓷器，市香藥、犀象、珊瑚、琥珀、珠琲、镔鐵、鼊皮、玳瑁、瑪瑙、車渠、水精、蕃布、烏樠、蘇木等物。

Early in the Song, following Zhou precedent, trade continued with Jiangnan. In 964 merchants were barred from crossing the Yangzi freely; three monopoly bureaus at Jian'an, Hanyang, and Qikou regulated exchange; officials who sent agents to trade in Jiangsu and Zhejiang had their goods seized. River folk and salt-furnace households could gather wood and fish; for sandals, mats, and similar goods the monopoly office issued permits to cross and sell. In 970 the Jian'an monopoly office was relocated to Yangzhou. After Jiangnan fell, the bureaus remained but managed only tea. In 971 Guangzhou gained a Maritime Trade Office; Hangzhou and Mingzhou followed. Peoples from Dashi, Gulu, Java, Champa, Brunei, the Philippines, Srivijaya, and beyond traded with China, paying in gold, silver, cash, lead, tin, colored silks, and porcelain for aromatics, ivory, coral, amber, pearls, steel, ray skin, tortoiseshell, agate, giant-clam shell, crystal, foreign cloth, eaglewood, sappanwood, and the like.

太宗時，置榷署於京師，詔諸蕃香藥寶貨至廣州、交阯、兩浙、泉州，非出官庫者，無得私相貿易。其後乃詔：「自今惟珠貝、玳瑁、犀象、镔鐵、鼊皮、珊瑚、瑪瑙、乳香禁榷外，他藥官市之餘，聽市於民。」

Taizong placed a monopoly office in the capital and decreed that foreign aromatics and treasure reaching Guangzhou, Jiaozhi, the two Zhe circuits, and Quanzhou could not be traded privately outside the official warehouses. Later an edict ruled: "Henceforth only pearls, tortoiseshell, ivory, wootz steel, ray skin, coral, agate, and frankincense remain state monopolies; other aromatics, after official purchase, may be sold to private buyers."

雍熙中，遣內侍八人齎敕書金帛，分四路招致海南諸蕃。商人出海外蕃國販易者，令並詣兩浙司市舶司請給官券，違者沒入其寶貨。淳熙二年，詔廣州市舶，除榷貨外，他貨之良者止市其半。大抵海船至，十先征其一，價直酌蕃貨輕重而差給之，歲約獲五十餘萬斤、條、株、顆。太平興國初，私與蕃國人貿易者，計直滿百錢以上論罪，十五貫以上黥麵流海島，過此送闕下。淳化五年申其禁，至四貫以上徒一年，稍加至二十貫以上，黥麵配本州為役兵。

During Yongxi (984–987), eight palace eunuchs carried imperial letters, gold, and silks along four routes to invite southern maritime traders. Merchants sailing overseas had to obtain official permits from the Zhe maritime office; violators forfeited their cargo. In 1175 Guangzhou was ordered: beyond monopoly items, the state would buy only half of the best grade of other goods. As a rule, one-tenth of incoming cargo was levied first; payment varied with the weight and value of foreign goods, yielding yearly some five hundred thousand units by weight, strip, stalk, or piece. Early in Taiping Xingguo (976–978), private trade with foreigners was criminal from one hundred cash upward; at fifteen strings, offenders were tattooed and exiled to island penal colonies; larger cases went to the capital. In 994 the ban was tightened: four strings brought one year's penal servitude, rising to tattooing and assignment as corvée troops in the home prefecture at twenty strings.

天聖以來，象犀、珠玉、香藥、寶貨充刃府庫，嘗斥其餘以易金帛、芻粟，縣官用度實有助焉。而官市貨數，視淳化則微有所損。皇祐中，總歲入象犀、珠玉、香藥之類，其數五十三萬有餘。至治平中，又增十萬。

Since the Tiansheng era (1023–1031), ivory, rhino horn, pearls, jade, aromatics, and treasure packed the treasuries; surpluses were traded for gold, silk, and grain, materially easing state spending. Official purchase volumes, however, fell slightly below Chunhua levels. Under Huangyou (1049–1053), annual intake of ivory, rhino horn, pearls, jade, and aromatics totaled over five hundred thirty thousand units. By the Zhiping era (1064–1067) the figure rose another hundred thousand.

熙寧五年，詔發運使薛向曰：「東南之利，舶商居其一。比言者請置司泉州，其創法講求之。」七年，令舶船遇風至諸州界，亟報所隸，送近地舶司榷賦分買；泉、福瀕海舟船未經賦買者，仍赴司勘驗。時廣州市舶虧歲課二十萬緡，或以為市易司擾之，故海商不至，令提舉司究詰以聞。既而市易務呂邈入舶司闌取蕃商物，詔提舉司劾之。九年，集賢殿修撰程師孟請罷杭、明州市舶，諸舶皆隸廣州一司。令師孟與三司詳議之。是年，杭、明、廣三司市舶，收錢、糧、銀、香、藥等五十四萬一百七十三緡、匹、斤、兩、段、條、個、顆、臍、隻、粒，支二十三萬八千五十六緡、匹、斤、兩、段、條、個、顆、臍、隻、粒。

In 1072 the throne told Transport Commissioner Xue Xiang, "Of the southeast's revenue, maritime trade is a major share— remonstrators have urged opening an office at Quanzhou; investigate and draft the regulations. In 1074 storm-driven ships reaching any prefecture had to report at once to local authorities and proceed to the nearest maritime office for levy and shared purchase; vessels from Quanzhou and Fuzhou that had not yet been levied still had to report to the office for inspection. Guangzhou's maritime revenue then fell short by two hundred thousand strings; some blamed harassment by the Market Exchange Office, which kept merchants away—the investigating commission was ordered to inquire and report. Soon Lü Miao of the Market Exchange Office entered the maritime bureau and seized foreign merchants' goods by force; the investigating commission was ordered to prosecute him. In 1076 Hanlin compiler Cheng Shimeng proposed closing the Hangzhou and Mingzhou maritime offices and placing all trade under Guangzhou alone. Cheng Shimeng and the fiscal Three Departments were told to study the plan. That year the Hangzhou, Mingzhou, and Guangzhou offices recorded receipts of 541,073 units (strings, bolts, pounds, taels, lengths, pieces, and the like) in cash, grain, silver, aromatics, and drugs, and expenditures of 238,056 units.

元豐二年，賈人入高麗，資及五千緡者，明州籍其名，歲責保給引發船，無引者如盜販法。先是，禁人私販，然不能絕；至是，復通中國，故明立是法。

In 1079 merchants sailing to Koryŏ with capital of five thousand strings or more were registered at Mingzhou; each year guarantors had to issue sailing permits—without one, smuggling penalties applied. Private trade had long been banned, yet it could not be stamped out; now that commerce with China had reopened, the rule was set forth in explicit form.

三年，中書言，廣州市舶已修定條約，宜選官推行。詔廣東以轉運使孫迥，廣西以陳倩，兩浙以副使周直孺，福建以判官王子京，罷廣東帥臣兼領。五年，廣西漕臣吳潛言：「雷、化州與瓊島對境，而發船請引於廣州舶司，約五千里。乞令廣西瀕海郡縣，土著商人載米穀、牛酒、黃魚及非舶司賦取之物，免至廣州請引。」詔孫迥詳度行之。

In 1080 the Secretariat reported that Guangzhou's maritime regulations had been revised and officials should be chosen to enforce them. Guangdong was assigned to Transport Commissioner Sun Jiong, Guangxi to Chen Qian, the two Zhe circuits to Vice Commissioner Zhou Zhiru, Fujian to Judge Wang Zijing—and the Guangdong commander's concurrent oversight was abolished. In 1082 Guangxi transport commissioner Wu Qian said, "Lei and Hua prefectures lie opposite Hainan, yet ships must travel some five thousand li to Guangzhou for sailing permits— allow Guangxi coastal counties to let local merchants carrying grain, cattle, wine, yellow croaker, and goods not subject to maritime levy sail without Guangzhou permits." Sun Jiong was ordered to study the proposal and put it into effect.

知密州範鍔言：「板橋瀕海，東則二廣、福建、淮、浙，西則京東、河北、河東三路，商賈所聚，海舶之利顓於富家大姓。宜即本州置市舶司，板橋鎮置抽解務。」六年，詔都轉運使吳居厚條析以聞。

Mizhou prefect Fan E said, "Banqiao sits on the coast: to the east lie the two Guang, Fujian, Huai, and Zhe; to the west Jingdong, Hebei, and Hedong—merchants converge there, yet maritime profits stay in the hands of great wealthy houses— a Maritime Trade Office should be established in this prefecture and a collection depot at Banqiao town." In 1083 Metropolitan Transport Commissioner Wu Juho was ordered to draft a detailed report.

元祐三年，鍔等復言：「廣南、福建、淮、浙賈人，航海販物至京東、河北、河東等路，運載錢帛絲綿貿易，而象犀、乳香珍異之物，雖嘗禁榷，未免欺隱。若板橋市舶法行，則海外諸物積於府庫者，必倍於杭、明二州。使商舶通行，無冒禁罹刑之患，而上供之物，免道路風水之虞。」乃置密州板橋市舶司。而前一年，亦增置市舶司於泉州。

In 1088 Fan E and others renewed their plea: "Merchants from the south, Fujian, Huai, and Zhe sail north to Jingdong, Hebei, and Hedong with cash and silk, while ivory, frankincense, and other restricted luxuries are still smuggled despite the monopoly— if Banqiao's maritime office operates, state stores will hold twice what Hangzhou and Mingzhou now gather. Ships could sail openly without fear of smuggling penalties, and tribute goods would escape the hazards of overland transport. The Mizhou Banqiao Maritime Trade Office was then established. The previous year a maritime office had also been added at Quanzhou.

賈人由海道往外蕃，令以物貨名數並所詣之地，報所在州召保，毋得參帶兵器或可造兵器及違禁之物，官給以券。擅乘船由海入界河及往高麗、新羅、登萊州境者，罪以徒，往北界者加等。

Merchants sailing overseas had to declare cargo and destination to their prefecture and obtain guarantors; weapons, weapon-making materials, and contraband were forbidden—the state issued permits. Unauthorized entry by sea into border rivers or voyages to Koryŏ, Silla, or Deng-Lai brought penal servitude; penalties increased for the northern frontier.

崇寧元年，復置杭、明市舶司，官吏如舊額。三年，令蕃商欲往他郡者，從舶司給券，毋雜禁物、奸人。初，廣南舶司言，海外蕃商至廣州貿易，聽其往還居止，而大食諸國商亦丐通入他州及京東販易，故有是詔。凡海舶欲至福建、兩浙販易者，廣南舶司給防船兵仗，如詣諸國法。廣南舶司鬻所市物貨，取息毋過二分。政和三年，詔如至道之法，凡知州、通判、官吏並舶司、使臣等，毋得市蕃商香藥、禁物。

In 1102 the Hangzhou and Mingzhou maritime offices were restored with their former staffing. In 1104 foreign merchants traveling to other prefectures had to obtain passes from the maritime office, without contraband or suspicious companions. Earlier Guangzhou had allowed foreign merchants to reside and travel freely; Arab and other traders had petitioned to trade in other prefectures and Jingdong—hence the edict. Ships bound for Fujian or the two Zhe circuits received armed escorts from Guangzhou, as for overseas voyages. Guangzhou resold state-purchased goods at no more than two percent markup. In 1113, following Zhidao-era rules, prefects, vice-prefects, maritime staff, and envoys were forbidden to purchase foreign aromatics or restricted goods from merchants.

宣和元年，秀州開修青龍江浦，舶船輻輳，請復置監官。先是，政和中，置務設官於華亭縣，後江浦湮塞，蕃舶鮮至，止令縣官兼掌。至是，復設官專領焉。四年，蕃國進奉物，如元豐法，令舶司即其地鬻之，毋發至京師，違者論罪。

In 1119 Xiuzhou dredged the Qinglong River mouth; with ships crowding the harbor, officials asked to restore dedicated supervisors. During Zhenghe an office had been set up at Huating, but after the estuary silted up foreign ships seldom called and county magistrates handled matters alone. Dedicated supervisors were now restored. In 1122, per Yuankeng rules, foreign tribute goods were to be sold locally by the maritime office, not forwarded to the capital—violators were prosecuted.

契丹在太祖時，雖聽緣邊市易，而未有官署。太平興國二年，始令鎮、易、雄、霸、滄州各置榷務，輦香藥、犀象及茶與交易。後有范陽之師，罷不與通。雍熙三年，禁河北商民與之貿易。時累年興師，千里饋糧，居民疲乏，太宗亦頗有厭兵之意。端拱元年，詔曰：「朕受命上穹，居尊中土，惟思禁暴，豈欲窮兵？至於幽薊之民，皆吾赤子，宜許邊疆互相市易。自今緣邊戍兵，不得輒恣侵略。」未幾復禁，違者抵死，北界商旅輒入內地販易，所在捕斬之。淳化二年，令雄、霸州、靜戎軍、代州雁門砦置榷署如舊制，所鬻物增蘇木，尋復罷。

Under Song Taizu the Khitan were allowed frontier trade but no official market agency existed. In 977 Zhen, Yi, Xiong, Ba, and Cang prefectures each gained monopoly bureaus trading aromatics, ivory, and tea with the Khitan. After the Fanyang campaign, trade was cut off. In 986 Hebei merchants were forbidden to trade with them. Years of campaigning had exhausted the people with supply lines stretching a thousand li, and Taizong himself had grown weary of war. In 988 an edict declared, "Heaven gave Us the mandate; We rule the central realm seeking only to curb violence—why would We crave endless war? The people of You and Ji are Our children; the frontier should be allowed mutual trade. Henceforth border garrisons must not raid at will." Soon the ban returned—violators faced death. Northern traders who slipped inland to sell were captured and executed wherever found. In 991 monopoly offices were restored at Xiong, Ba, Jingrong Army, and Yanmen Fort, with sappanwood added to the trade list—then soon abolished again.

咸平五年，契丹求復置署，朝議以其翻覆，不許。知雄州何承矩繼請，乃聽置於雄州；六年，罷。景德初，復通好，請商賈即新城貿易。詔北商齎物貨至境上則許之。二年，令雄、霸州、安肅軍置三榷場，北商趨他路者，勿與為市。遣都官員外郎孔揆等乘傳詣三榷場，與轉運使劉綜並所在長吏平互市物價，稍優其直予之。又於廣信軍置場，皆廷臣專掌，通判兼領焉。三年，詔民以書籍赴沿邊榷場博易者，非《九經》書疏悉禁之。凡官鬻物如舊，而增繒帛、漆器、粳糯，所入者有銀錢、布、羊馬、橐駝，歲獲四十餘萬。

In 1002 the Khitan sought to reopen the markets, but court debate cited their unreliability and refused. Xiongzhou prefect He Chengju pressed the case, and a market was allowed at Xiongzhou; in 1003 it was closed again. Early in the Jingde era (1004–1007) relations warmed, and the Khitan asked that merchants trade at the new frontier city. An edict allowed northern merchants to trade once they reached the border with goods in hand. In 1005 three monopoly markets were set at Xiong, Ba, and Ansujun; northern merchants using other routes were denied trade. Palace Board Vice Director Kong Kui and others were dispatched to the three markets with Transport Commissioner Liu Zong and local officials to set fair prices, paying the Khitan slightly above market rates. A fourth market was added at Guangxin Army, each run by a court-appointed commissioner with the vice-prefect as concurrent supervisor. In 1006 the court barred civilians from trading books at the border markets except for the Nine Classics and standard commentaries. State sales continued as before, with added silk, lacquerware, and polished rice; Khitan payments in silver, cloth, livestock, and camels yielded annual revenue exceeding four hundred thousand strings.

天聖中，知雄州張昭遠請歲會入中金錢，仁宗曰：「先朝置互市以通有無，非以計利。」不許。終仁宗、英宗之世，契丹固守盟好，互市不絕。

During the Tiansheng reign (1023–1032) Zhang Zhaoyuan, prefect of Xiongzhou, asked that border-trade silver be remitted yearly to court; Renzong replied, "Our forebears opened these markets to balance want and plenty, not to turn a profit. The request was denied. Throughout the reigns of Renzong and Yingzong the Khitan honored the treaty and frontier trade never lapsed.

熙寧八年，市易司請假奉宸庫象、犀、珠直總二十萬緡，於榷場貿易，明年終償之。詔許。九年，立與化外人私貿易罪賞法。河北四榷場，自治平四年，其貨物專掌於三司之催轄司，而度支賞給案判官置簿督計之。至是，以私販者眾，故有是命。未幾，又禁私市硫黃、焰硝及以盧甘石入他界者，河東亦如之。元豐元年，復申賣書北界告捕之法。

In 1075 the Market Exchange Office asked to borrow two hundred thousand strings' worth of ivory, rhinoceros horn, and pearls from the imperial treasury for border-market trade, promising full repayment the following year. The court approved the loan. In 1076 the state codified penalties and rewards for unauthorized trade with foreigners. Since 1067 the four Hebei border markets had been run by the Three Departments' procurement office, with Revenue Section clerks keeping the accounts. Smuggling had grown so widespread that the new statute was issued. Soon private sales of sulfur, saltpeter, and alum across the border were banned as well, with identical rules in Hedong. In 1078 the court again enforced the rule requiring informants and arrests for selling books to the Khitan frontier.

西夏自景德四年，於保安軍置榷場，以繒帛、羅綺易駝馬、牛羊、玉、氈毯、甘草，以香藥、瓷漆器、薑桂等物易蜜蠟、麝臍、毛褐、原羚角、碙砂、柴胡、蓯蓉、紅花、翎毛，非官市者聽與民交易，入貢至京者縱其為市。

Since 1007 the Tanguts had traded at a licensed market in Bao'an: Song silk and brocade for livestock, jade, felt, and licorice; spices, ceramics, and ginger for wax, musk, wool, medicines, safflower, and plumes. Private dealings were allowed alongside the official exchange, and tribute envoys reaching the capital could trade at will.

天聖中，陝西榷場二、並代路亦請置場和市，許之。及元昊反，即詔陝西、河東絕其互市，廢保安軍榷場；後又禁陝西並邊主兵官與屬羌交易。久之，元昊請臣，數遣使求復互市。慶曆六年，復為置場於保安、鎮戎二軍。繼言驅馬羊至，無放牧之地，為徙保安軍榷場於順寧砦。既而蕃商卒無至者。嘉祐初，西人侵耕屈野河地，知并州龐籍謂：「非絕其互市，則內侵不已。且聞出兀臧訛龐之謀，若互市不通，其國必歸罪訛龐，年歲間，然後可與計議。」從之。初，第禁陝西四路私與西人貿易，未幾，乃悉絕之。

During Tiansheng two more Shaanxi markets opened, and Bingdai Circuit's request for additional harmonized-trade posts was granted. When Yuan Hao rebelled, the court severed frontier trade in Shaanxi and Hedong and closed the Bao'an market; commanders along the Shaanxi frontier were later forbidden to trade with allied Qiang tribes as well. Eventually Yuan Hao submitted and sent repeated embassies asking to reopen the markets. In 1046 markets were restored at Bao'an and Zhenrong. The Tanguts complained that herds brought to trade had no grazing ground, so the Bao'an market was relocated to Shunning Fort. Tangut traders soon stopped coming altogether. Early in the Jiayou era (1056–1063) Tanguts began farming disputed land along the Quye River; Bingzhou prefect Pang Ji argued, "Only by shutting down trade can we stop their steady push inward. This encroachment, I hear, is the work of the minister Wu Zang E Pang. Cut off trade and his own court will blame him; within a year or two we can negotiate from strength. The court agreed. At first only private trade along the four Shaanxi circuits was banned; soon every channel of exchange was closed.

治平四年，河東經略司言，西界乞通和市。自夏人攻慶州大順城，詔罷歲賜，嚴禁邊民無得私相貿易。至是，上章謝罪，乃復許之。後二年，令涇原熟戶及河東、陝西邊民勿與通市。又二年，因回使議立和市，而私販不能止，遂申詔諸路禁絕。既而河東轉運司請罷吳堡，於寧星和市如舊。而麟州復奏夏人之請，乃令鬻銅、錫以市馬，而纖縞與急須之物皆禁。西北歲入馬，事具《兵志》。

In 1067 the Hedong frontier command reported that the Tanguts were asking to reopen harmonized trade. After the Tanguts attacked Dashuncheng in Qingzhou, the court suspended annual gifts and strictly forbade any private border trade. Now, having submitted an apology, they were allowed to trade again. Two years later acculturated households in Jingyuan and civilians in Hedong and Shaanxi were forbidden to deal with the Tanguts. Two years later a Hui envoy negotiated reopening the markets, yet smuggling continued until the court banned trade on every frontier route. The Hedong transport office then asked to close Wubao and restore the old harmonized market at Ningxing. When Linzhou reported another Tangut petition, the court allowed copper and tin for horses only, banning fine silks and other goods they urgently needed. Annual horse purchases from the northwest are detailed in the Military Treatise.

建炎四年三月，宣撫使張浚奏，大食國遣人進珠玉寶貝。上曰：「大觀、宣和間，川茶不以博馬，惟市珠玉，故武備不修，遂致危弱如此。今復捐數十萬緡易無用之物，曷若惜財以養戰士乎？」諭張浚勿受，量賜予以答之。六月，罷宜州歲市朱砂二萬兩。

In the third month of 1130 Pacification Commissioner Zhang Jun reported that Arab envoys had arrived bearing pearls, jade, and curios. The emperor said, "Under Huizong we traded Sichuan tea for pearls and jade instead of horses, neglected our defenses, and brought the dynasty to this pass. Why spend another few hundred thousand strings on trinkets when that silver could feed our soldiers?" Zhang Jun was told to decline the tribute and reply with a modest gift in kind. That sixth month the court ended Yizhou's annual purchase of twenty thousand taels of cinnabar.

紹興三年，邕州守臣言大理請入貢。上諭大臣，止令賣馬，不許其進貢。四年，詔川、陝即永興軍、威茂州置博易場；移廣西買馬司於邕管，歲捐金帛，倍酬其直。然言語不通，一聽譯者高下其手，吏得因緣為奸。六年，大理國獻象及馬五百匹，詔償其馬直，卻象勿受，而賜書勞遣之。十二年，盱眙軍置榷場官監，與北商博易，淮西、京西、陝西榷場亦如之。十九年，罷國信所博易。二十六年，罷廉州貢珠，散蜑丁。蓋珠池之在廉州凡十餘，按交阯者水深百尺，而大珠生焉。蜑往采之，多為交人所取，又為大魚所害。至是，罷之。二十九年，存盱眙軍榷場，餘並罷。

In 1133 the Yongzhou prefect reported that Dali wished to send tribute. The emperor told his ministers to permit only horse sales and to reject any formal tribute mission. In 1134 edicts established exchange markets at Yongxing Army and Weimao in Sichuan and Shaanxi; and relocated the Guangxi Horse Purchase Office to Yongzhou, paying double market price in annual silk and silver. But with no common language, interpreters fixed prices at will and officials found endless chances for graft. In 1136 Dali sent elephants and five hundred horses; the court paid for the horses, refused the elephants, and sent a letter of thanks dismissing the embassy. In 1142 Xuyi Army gained a supervised border market for Jurchen traders, and similar markets opened in Huai west, Jingxi, and Shaanxi. In 1149 the Guoxin Office's exchange trade was shut down. In 1156 the court ended Lianzhou's pearl tribute and disbanded the Dan divers. Lianzhou held more than a dozen pearl beds; off Jiaozhi the water ran a hundred feet deep and the finest pearls grew there. When the Dan divers went out, Vietnamese raiders seized their catch and great fish took many lives. The fishery was abandoned. In 1159 only the Xuyi market survived; all others were closed.

乾道元年，襄陽鄧城鎮、壽春花靨鎮、光州光山縣中渡市皆置榷場，以守臣措置，通判提轄。五年，省提轄官。淳熙二年，臣僚言：溪峒緣邊州縣置博易場，官主之。七年，塞外諸戎販珠玉入黎州，官常邀市之。臣僚言其黷貨啟釁，非便，止合聽商賈、百姓收買。詔從之。

In 1165 monopoly markets opened at Dengcheng in Xiangyang, Huayan in Shouchun, and Zhongdu in Guangshan, each run by the local prefect with a vice-prefect as supervisor. In 1169 the dedicated supervisor posts were abolished. In 1175 officials noted that exchange markets along the stream-gorge frontier were run directly by the state. In 1180 tribes beyond the passes brought pearls and jade to Lizhou, where officials routinely forced preemptive purchases. Officials warned that official buying bred corruption and border incidents, and urged that only merchants and civilians be allowed to purchase. The court agreed.

建炎元年，詔：「市舶多以無用之物費國用，自今有博買篤耨香環、瑪瑙、貓兒眼睛之類，皆置於法；惟宣賜臣僚象笏、犀帶，選可者輸送。」胡人謂三百斤為一婆蘭，凡舶舟最大者曰獨檣，載一千婆蘭。次者曰牛頭，比獨檣得三之一。又次曰木舶，曰料河，遞得三之一。

In 1127 an edict declared, "Maritime trade too often squanders treasury silver on luxuries. From now on state purchases of eaglewood rings, agate, cat's-eye, and similar goods are subject to statute; only ivory tablets and rhinoceros belts for imperial gifts to officials may be selected and forwarded." Foreign merchants called three hundred jin a po-lan; the largest ships, known as single-masters, carried a thousand po-lan. The next class, called ox-heads, carried one-third as much. Smaller still were timber ships and liao-he vessels, each again one-third the size below.

隆興二年，臣僚言：「熙寧初，立市舶以通物貨。舊法抽解有定數，而取之不苛，輸稅寬其期，而使之待價，懷遠之意實寓焉。邇來抽解既多，又迫使之輸，致貨滯而價減。擇其良者，如犀角、象齒十分抽二，又博買四分；珠十分抽一，又博買六分。舶戶懼抽買數多，止買粗色雜貨。若象齒、珠犀比他貨至重，乞十分抽一，更不博買。」

In 1164 officials reminded the throne, "When the maritime trade system was founded in the Xining era, quotas were fixed but fairly assessed, taxes were deferred so merchants could wait for good prices—the policy truly embodied goodwill toward distant traders. Lately seizures have multiplied and payment is demanded immediately, so goods pile up and prices collapse. On fine goods such as rhinoceros horn and ivory the state now takes two-tenths in quota seizure and buys another four-tenths; on pearls one-tenth is seized and six-tenths forcibly purchased. Fearing heavy seizures and state purchases, ship owners now carry only cheap mixed cargo. Ivory, pearls, and rhinoceros bear the heaviest burden—reduce the levy to one-tenth and end forced purchase altogether.

乾道二年，罷兩浙路提舉，以守倅及知縣、監官共事，轉運司提督之。三年，詔廣南、兩浙市舶司所發舟還，因風水不便、船破檣壞者，即不得抽解。七年，詔見任官以錢附綱首商旅過蕃買物者有罰，舶至除抽解和買，違法抑買者，許蕃商越訴，計贓罪之。

In 1166 the Liangzhe maritime commissioner was abolished; prefects, vice-prefects, magistrates, and port supervisors shared the work under transport-office oversight. In 1167 the court ruled that Guangnan and Liangzhe ships damaged by storms or wrecked on the return voyage were exempt from quota seizure. In 1171 officials who lent money to convoy leaders for overseas purchases faced penalties; beyond lawful seizure and state purchase, merchants could appeal over illegal price-fixing, with penalties based on the bribe's value.

舊法，細色綱龍腦、珠之類，每一綱五千兩，其餘犀象、紫礦、乳檀香之類，為粗色，每綱一萬斤。凡起一綱，遣衙前一名部送，支腳乘贍家錢一百餘緡。大觀以後，張大其數，象犀、紫礦皆作細色起發，以舊日一綱分為三十二綱，多費腳乘贍家錢三千餘貫。至於乾道七年，詔廣南起發粗色香藥物貨，每綱二萬斤，加耗六百斤，依舊支破水腳錢一千六百六十二貫有奇。淳熙二年，戶部言：「福建、廣南市舶司粗細物貨，並以五萬斤為一全綱。」

Under the old rules a fine-goods convoy of borneol, pearls, and the like was capped at five thousand taels; rhinoceros horn, ivory, purple ore, and sandalwood counted as coarse goods at ten thousand jin per convoy. Each convoy required a yamen runner escort at a travel allowance of just over one hundred strings. After the Daguan era (1107–1110) quotas ballooned: ivory, rhinoceros horn, and purple ore were reclassified as fine goods, one old convoy became thirty-two, and travel costs rose above three thousand strings. In 1171 Guangnan coarse aromatics were fixed at twenty thousand jin per convoy with a six-hundred-jin wastage allowance and portage pay of 1,662 strings and change, as under the old rule. In 1175 the Revenue Board ruled that Fujian and Guangnan would treat both fine and coarse cargo as a single full convoy at fifty thousand jin.

南渡，三路舶司歲入固不少，然金銀銅鐵，海舶飛運，所失良多，而銅錢之泄尤甚。法禁雖嚴，奸巧愈密，商人貪利而貿遷，黠吏受賕而縱釋，其弊卒不可禁。

After the court fled south the three maritime commissions still collected substantial revenue, yet bullion and metals shipped overseas in vast quantities—and copper cash leaked abroad worst of all. Bans grew stricter while smuggling grew subtler: merchants chased profit across the seas, clerks took bribes and looked away—and in the end the abuse could not be stopped.

Cite this Chapter