1
食貨一
Finance and Economics 1
2
古之善治其國而愛養斯民者，必立經常簡易之法，使上愛物以養其下，下勉力以事其上，上足而下不困。 故量人之力而授之田，量地之產而取以給公上，量其入而出之以為用度之數。 是三者常相須以濟而不可失，失其一則不能守其二。 及暴君庸主，縱其佚欲，而茍且之吏從之，變制合時以取寵於其上。 故用於上者無節，而取於下者無限，民竭其力而不能供，由是上愈不足而下愈困，則財利之說興，而聚斂之臣用。 《記》曰：「寧畜盜臣。」 盜臣誠可惡，然一人之害爾。 聚斂之臣用，則經常之法壞，而下不勝其弊焉。
Those who truly governed well in antiquity always set up steady, straightforward institutions: the ruler valued resources to support the people, the people labored to serve the throne, the court was supplied and the common folk were not squeezed dry. They matched each person's capacity when allotting land, took from the soil only what was needed for public revenue, and scaled spending to what came in. The three measures had to work together; lose any one and the other two would collapse. Tyrants and weak sovereigns gave free rein to luxury, and servile officials rewrote the rules on the fly to please them. Court spending knew no restraint and extraction from the people knew no ceiling; the folk spent themselves dry yet still could not pay. The treasury grew emptier while the countryside grew poorer, profit-seeking policies flourished, and revenue-hungry ministers took charge. The Record says: "It is better to harbor a thieving minister. A corrupt official is hateful enough, but he injures only himself. When exaction specialists rule, the standing order is ruined and the people cannot survive the damage.
3
唐之始時，授人以口分、世業田，而取之以租、庸、調之法，其用之也有節。 蓋其畜兵以府衛之制，故兵雖多而無所損； 設官有常員之數，故官不濫而易祿。 雖不及三代之盛時，然亦可以為經常之法也。 及其弊也，兵冗官濫，為之大蠹。 自天寶以來，大盜屢起，方鎮數叛，兵革之興，累世不息，而用度之數，不能節矣。 加以驕君昏主，奸吏邪臣，取濟一時，屢更其制，而經常之法，蕩然盡矣。 由是財利之說興，聚斂之臣進。 蓋口分、世業之田壞而為兼並，租、庸、調之法壞而為兩稅。 至於鹽鐵、轉運、屯田、和糴、鑄錢、括苗、榷利、借商、進奉、獻助，無所不為矣。 蓋愈煩而愈弊，以至於亡焉。
When the Tang was founded, the state allotted per-capita and hereditary fields and collected zu, yong, and diao levies—and spending stayed within bounds. Soldiers were raised through the fubing militia and guard-garrison system, so a large army did not bankrupt the realm; each post had a fixed headcount, so offices were not overfilled and salaries remained payable. It fell short of the golden ages of antiquity, yet it could still stand as a durable fiscal order. In time the system rotted: bloated armies and swollen bureaucracy became its gravest blight. After the Tianbao years, major rebellions broke out again and again, frontier governors turned traitor one after another, and war ran on for generations. The budget could no longer be held in check. Arrogant emperors and muddled courts, venal clerks and scheming ministers patched crises with stopgaps, rewrote the rules again and again, and the standing order vanished entirely. Profit-seeking theories spread, and men who lived to squeeze revenue rose to power. Per-capita and hereditary allotments collapsed into large estates; the zu-yong-diao levies gave way to the dual tax. Salt and iron monopolies, transport offices, military farms, forced purchases of grain, minting, land surveys, excise levies, loans to merchants, court tribute, and "voluntary" gifts—every expedient was tried. The more tangled the system grew, the worse it failed—until the dynasty fell.
4
唐制：度田以步，其闊一步，其長二百四十步為畝，百畝為頃。 凡民始生為黃，四歲為小，十六為中，二十一為丁，六十為老。 授田之制，丁及男年十八以上者，人一頃，其八十畝為口分，二十畝為永業； 老及篤疾、廢疾者，人四十畝，寡妻妾三十畝，當戶者增二十畝，皆以二十畝為永業，其余為口分。 永業之田，樹以榆、棗、桑及所宜之木，皆有數。 田多可以足其人者為寬鄉，少者為狹鄉。 狹鄉授田，減寬鄉之半。 其地有薄厚，歲一易者，倍受之。 寬鄉三易者，不倍授。 工商者，寬鄉減半，狹鄉不給。 凡庶人徙鄉及貧無以葬者，得賣世業田。 自狹鄉而徙寬鄉者，得並賣口分田。 已賣者，不復授。 死者收之，以授無田者。 凡收授皆以歲十月。 授田先貧及有課役者。 凡田，鄉有余以給比鄉，縣有余以給比縣，州有余以給近州。
Under Tang law, land was measured in paces: one pace in width and two hundred forty in length formed one mu; one hundred mu made one qing. Commoners were registered at birth as infants (huang), as minors at four, as youths at sixteen, as adult males (ding) at twenty-one, and as elderly at sixty. Each adult male and each man of eighteen or over received one qing of land: eighty mu as per-capita allotment and twenty mu as hereditary holding; the aged and the seriously disabled received forty mu each; widows and concubines thirty; heads of household gained another twenty. In every case twenty mu were hereditary and the remainder per-capita allotments. Hereditary plots had to be planted with prescribed numbers of elms, jujubes, mulberries, and other suitable trees. Districts with enough land for everyone were "broad"; those without were "narrow." Narrow districts received half the allotment of broad ones. Poor soil or land rotated every year received double allotments. In broad districts with three-year rotation, no doubling applied. Merchants and artisans in broad districts got half allotments; in narrow districts they received none. Commoners relocating or too poor for funerals might sell their hereditary plots. Those moving from narrow to broad districts could sell their per-capita allotments as well. Land sold was never re-allotted. On death the state reclaimed the land and gave it to those without fields. Reclamation and new grants were carried out every year in the tenth month. Land was allotted first to the poor and to households liable for tax and corvée. Surplus land in a district went to neighboring districts, county surpluses to neighboring counties, and prefectural surpluses to nearby prefectures.
5
凡授田者，丁歲輸粟二斛，稻三斛，謂之租。 丁隨鄉所出，歲輸絹二匹，綾、絁二丈，布加五之一，綿三兩，麻三斤，非蠶鄉則輸銀十四兩，謂之調。 用人之力，歲二十日，閏加二日，不役者日為絹三尺，謂之庸。 有事而加役二十五日者免調，三十日者租、調皆免。 通正役不過五十日。
Every grantee paid two hu of grain or three of rice per adult male per year—the grain tax called zu. Each adult male paid local produce: two bolts of silk, two zhang of fine cloth, extra cloth by one-fifth, three liang of cotton floss, three jin of hemp—or fourteen liang of silver where sericulture did not exist. This was the diao levy. Corvée labor ran twenty days a year, plus two in leap years; those who bought out of service paid three chi of silk per day—the yong levy. Extra corvée of twenty-five days exempted diao; at thirty days both zu and diao were waived. Regular corvée in all could not exceed fifty days.
6
自王公以下，皆有永業田。 太皇太后、皇太后、皇后緦麻以上親，內命婦一品以上親，郡王及五品以上祖父兄弟，職事、勛官三品以上有封者若縣男父子，國子、太學、四門學生、俊士，孝子、順孫、義夫、節婦同籍者，皆免課役。 凡主戶內有課口者為課戶。 若老及男廢疾、篤疾、寡妻妾、部曲、客女、奴婢及視九品以上官，不課。
From princes and dukes down, every rank held hereditary land. Kin of the empresses within the five degrees of mourning, kin of high-ranking inner consorts, kin of princes and fifth-rank officials, third-rank officials and merit nobles with fiefs and their sons, imperial students and candidates, and registered filial sons, obedient grandsons, righteous husbands, and chaste wives were all exempt from tax and labor. A chief household with liable members was a tax household. The aged, disabled men, the seriously ill, widows and concubines, retainers, tenant women, slaves, and households ranked as ninth-grade officials or higher paid no tax.
7
凡裏有手實，歲終具民之年與地之闊狹，為鄉帳。 鄉成於縣，縣成於州，州成於戶部。 又有計帳，具來歲課役以報度支。 國有所須，先奏而斂。 凡稅斂之數，書於縣門、村坊，與眾知之。 水、旱、霜、蝗耗十四者，免其租； 桑麻盡者，免其調； 田耗十之六者，免租調； 耗七者，課、役皆免。 凡新附之戶，春以三月免役，夏以六月免課，秋以九月課、役皆免。 徙寬鄉者，縣覆於州，出境則覆於戶部，官以閑月達之。 自畿內徙畿外，自京縣徙余縣，皆有禁。 四夷降戶，附以寬鄉，給復十年。 奴婢縱為良人，給復三年。 沒外蕃人，一年還者給復三年，二年者給復四年，三年者給復五年。 浮民、部曲、客女、奴婢縱為良者附寬鄉。
Each neighborhood kept household registers; at year-end ages and land holdings were compiled into the district roll. District rolls went to the county, county rolls to the prefecture, prefectural rolls to the Ministry of Revenue. A projected account also listed the coming year's taxes and corvée for the treasury. State levies required prior memorial and approval. Tax schedules were posted at county gates and village wards for all to see. Flood, drought, frost, or locust loss of four-tenths exempted the grain tax; total loss of mulberry and hemp exempted the diao levy; field loss of six-tenths exempted both zu and diao; loss of seven-tenths exempted all taxes and labor service. New households joining in spring were exempt from corvée for three months; in summer from taxes for six months; in autumn from both for nine months. Migrants to broad districts were certified county to prefecture, and across borders to the Ministry of Revenue; officials filed reports in the off-season. Moves from the capital core to the outer districts, or from metropolitan counties to ordinary counties, were restricted. Surrendered frontier peoples were settled in broad districts with ten years' tax relief. Freed slaves received three years' exemption. Frontier men captured abroad who returned within one year got three years' relief; within two years, four; within three, five. Vagrants, retainers, tenant women, and freed slaves were registered in broad districts.
8
貞觀中，初稅草以給諸閑，而驛馬有牧田。
During Zhenguan a fodder tax was introduced for miscellaneous expenses, and post horses were given pasture land.
9
太宗方銳意於治，官吏考課，以鰥寡少者進考，如增戶法； 失勸導者以減戶論。 配租以斂穫早晚、險易、遠近為差。 庸、調輸以八月，發以九月。 同時輸者先遠民。 皆自概量。 州府歲市土所出為貢，其價視絹之上下，無過五十匹。 異物、滋味、口馬、鷹犬，非有詔不獻。 有加配，則以代租賦。 其兇荒則有社倉賑給，不足則徙民就食諸州。 尚書左丞戴胄建議：「自王公以下，計墾田，秋熟，所在為義倉，歲兇以給民。」 太宗善之，乃詔：「畝稅二升，粟、麥、秔、稻，隨土地所宜。 寬鄉斂以所種，狹鄉據青苗簿而督之。 田耗十四者免其半，耗十七者皆免之。 商賈無田者，以其戶為九等，出粟自五石至於五斗為差。 下下戶及夷獠不取焉。 歲不登，則以賑民； 或貸為種子，則至秋而償。」 其後洛、相、幽、徐、齊、並、秦、蒲州又置常平倉，粟藏九年，米藏五年，下濕之地，粟藏五年，米藏三年，皆著於令。
Taizong was bent on good government; in performance reviews, few widows and orphans in a district improved an official's rating, as with the household-growth rule; failure to encourage settlement counted as a loss of households. Grain tax deadlines varied with harvest season, terrain, and distance. Yong and diao were collected in the eighth month and forwarded in the ninth. When deadlines overlapped, distant districts paid first. Households measured their own deliveries. Each year prefectures bought local products as tribute, priced by silk grade, capped at fifty bolts. Exotic goods, delicacies, riding horses, hawks, and hunting dogs were not sent without imperial order. Extra tribute assignments could substitute for regular taxes. In famine community granaries provided relief; if stores ran short, people were relocated to other prefectures for food. Left Vice Director Dai Zhou proposed: "From princes down, tally cultivated land; after harvest, set up charity granaries in each locality to feed the people in bad years. Taizong approved and ordered: "Two sheng per mu, in millet, wheat, husked rice, or paddy as local conditions allow. Broad districts levied on actual crops; narrow districts used the green-crop register to enforce collection. Crop loss of four-tenths halved the levy; loss of seven-tenths canceled it. Landless merchants were ranked in nine grades and paid grain from five shi down to five dou. The poorest households and tribal peoples were exempt. In bad years the grain relieved the people; or lent as seed to be repaid at harvest." Later ever-normal granaries were added at Luoyang, Xiang, You, Xu, Qi, Bing, Qin, and Pu: grain stored nine years, rice five—in damp regions, grain five and rice three—all codified in law.
10
貞觀初，戶不及三百萬，絹一匹易米一斗。 至四年，米斗四五錢，外戶不閉者數月，馬牛被野，人行數千里不賫糧，民物蕃息，四夷降附者百二十萬人。 是歲，天下斷獄，死罪者二十九人，號稱太平。 此高祖、太宗致治之大略，及其成效如此。
Early in Zhenguan there were fewer than three million households, and one bolt of silk bought only one dou of rice. By the fourth year rice cost four or five cash per dou; outer gates stood open for months; horses and cattle grazed freely; travelers went thousands of li without provisions; population and wealth grew; and 1.2 million frontier peoples submitted. That year only twenty-nine death sentences were handed down empire-wide—the age was called Great Peace. Such was the broad policy by which Gaozu and Taizong brought order—and such were its results.
11
高宗承之，海內艾安。 太尉長孫無忌等輔政，天下未見失德。 數引刺史入閤，問民疾苦。 即位之歲，增戶十五萬。 及中書令李義府、侍中許敬宗既用事，役費並起。 永淳以後，給用益不足。 加以武後之亂，紀綱大壞，民不勝其毒。
Gaozong inherited this legacy, and the realm knew peace. With Zhangsun Wuji and others guiding policy, the court showed no grave misconduct. He often summoned prefects to court to inquire after the people's hardships. In his first year on the throne, registered households rose by 150,000. Once Li Yifu and Xu Jingzong held power, corvée and spending both surged. After the Yongchun era, revenue fell ever shorter of need. Then came Empress Wu's turmoil: law and order collapsed, and the people could not endure the burden.
12
玄宗初立求治，蠲徭役者給蠲符，以流外及九品京官為蠲使，歲再遣之。 開元八年，頒庸調法於天下，好不過精，惡不至濫，闊者一尺八寸，長者四丈。 然是時天下戶未嘗升降。 監察御史宇文融獻策：括籍外羨田、逃戶，自占者給復五年，每丁稅錢千五百，以攝御史分行括實。 陽翟尉皇甫憬上書言其不可。 玄宗方任用融，乃貶憬為盈川尉。 諸道所括得客戶八十余萬，田亦稱是。 州縣希旨張虛數，以正田為羨，編戶為客，歲終，籍錢數百萬緡。
When Xuanzong first sought reform, corvée exemptions were issued on tallies; minor officials and ninth-rank capital appointees served as exemption commissioners, sent out twice a year. In Kaiyuan 8 the yong-diao standards were issued empire-wide: finest cloth not above refined grade, poorest not below acceptable; width at least 1.8 chi, length at most 4 zhang. Yet household registers had never been properly updated. Censor Yuwen Rong proposed surveying hidden land and unregistered households: voluntary registration won five years' relief; each adult male paid 1,500 cash; acting censors fanned out to verify the rolls. Yangdi Assistant Magistrate Huangfu Jing memorialized against the plan. Xuanzong, backing Rong, demoted Jing to magistrate of Yingchuan. The circuits registered over 800,000 client households, with land to match. Local officials eager to please inflated the rolls, reclassified regular land as surplus and registered households as clients, and by year-end reported several million strings in revenue.
13
十六年，乃詔每三歲以九等定籍。 而庸調折租所取華好，州縣長宮勸織，中書門下察濫惡以貶官吏，精者褒賞之。 二十二年，詔男十五、女十三以上得嫁娶。 州縣歲上戶口登耗，采訪使覆實之，刺史、縣令以為課最。
In the sixteenth year of Kaiyuan, the court ordered household registers revised by nine grades every three years. Yong, diao, and grain substitutes had to be of fine quality; local chiefs urged weaving; the Secretariat punished officials for shoddy goods and rewarded excellence. In Kaiyuan 22, males of fifteen and females of thirteen were permitted to marry. Each year counties reported household growth; investigating commissioners verified the figures; governors and magistrates were rated on the results.
14
初，永徽中禁買賣世業、口分田。 其後豪富兼並，貧者失業，於是詔買者還地而罰之。
In the Yonghui era, sale of hereditary and per-capita fields was banned. Later the rich absorbed land and the poor lost their farms; buyers were ordered to return land and were punished.
15
先是楊州租、調以錢，嶺南以米，安南以絲，益州以羅、䌷、綾、絹供春彩。 因詔江南亦以布代租。
Yangzhou had paid zu and diao in cash, Lingnan in rice, Annan in silk, and Yizhou furnished gauze and silks for spring tribute. The court then ordered Jiangnan to pay the grain tax in cloth as well.
16
中書令李林甫以租庸、丁防、和糴、春彩、稅草無定法，歲為旨符，遣使一告，費紙五十余萬。 條目既多，覆問逾年，乃與采訪朝集使議革之，為長行旨，以授朝集使及送旨符使，歲有所支，進畫附驛以達，每州不過二紙。
Chief Minister Li Linfu noted that zu-yong, frontier service, grain purchases, spring tribute, and fodder tax lacked fixed rules; yearly edict slips sent by messenger consumed over half a million sheets of paper. With so many items, replies took over a year; he reformed the system with investigating commissioners into standing guidelines, sent by relay—no more than two sheets per prefecture.
17
凡庸、調、租、資課，皆任土所宜，州縣長官涖定粗良，具上中下三物之樣輸京都。 有濫惡，督中物之直。 二十五年，以江、淮輸運有河、洛之艱，而關中蠶桑少，菽粟常賤，乃命庸、調、資課皆以米，兇年樂輸布絹者亦從之。 河南、北不通運州，租皆為絹，代關中庸、課，詔度支減轉運。
Yong, diao, zu, and resource levies followed local products; local chiefs set quality grades and sent upper, middle, and lower samples to the capital. Shoddy goods were priced at the middle grade. In Kaiyuan 25, because Jiang-Huai grain faced transport bottlenecks at the Yellow and Luo while Guanzhong lacked silk and grain was cheap, yong, diao, and resource levies were paid in rice; in famine years cloth and silk were accepted. In north and south Henan, unreachable by transport routes, grain tax was paid in silk to supply Guanzhong corvée and levies, and transport was reduced.
18
明年，又詔民三歲以下為黃，十五以下為小，二十以下為中。 又以民間戶高丁多者，率與父母別籍異居，以避征戍，乃詔十丁以上免二丁，五丁以上免一丁，侍丁孝者免徭役。 天寶三載，更民十八以上為中男，二十三以上成丁。 五載，詔貧不能自濟者，每鄉免三十丁租庸。 男子七十五以上、婦人七十以上，中男一人為侍； 八十以上以令式從事。 是時，海內富實，米鬥之價錢十三，青、齊間鬥才三錢，絹一匹錢二百。 道路列肆，具酒食以待行人，店有驛驢，行千里不持尺兵。 天下歲入之物，租錢二百余萬緡，粟千九百八十余萬斛，庸、調絹七百四十萬匹，綿百八十余萬屯，布千三十五萬余端。 天子驕於佚樂而用不知節，大抵用物之數，常過其所入。 於是錢谷之臣，始事朘刻。 太府卿楊崇禮句剝分銖，有欠折漬損者，州縣督送，歷年不止。 其子慎矜專知太府，次子慎名知京倉，亦以苛刻結主恩。 王鉷為戶口色役使，歲進錢百億萬緡，非租庸正額者，積百寶大盈庫，以供天子燕私。 及安祿山反，司空楊國忠以為正庫物不可以給士，遣侍御史崔眾至太原納錢度僧尼道士，旬日得百萬緡而已。 自兩京陷沒，民物耗弊，天下蕭然。
The next year, children under three were infants, under fifteen minors, and under twenty youths. Wealthy households with many sons often split registers to evade conscription; households of ten ding lost two, of five lost one, and filial attendants were exempt from corvée. In Tianbao 3, males of eighteen became youths and those of twenty-three became adult males liable for tax. In Tianbao 5, each district exempted thirty ding from zu-yong for households too poor to survive. For men seventy-five and women seventy, one youth was assigned as attendant; those eighty and above were governed by special statute. The empire was prosperous: rice cost thirteen cash per dou, only three in Qing and Qi, and two hundred cash per bolt of silk. Roadside shops offered food and drink; inns kept relay donkeys; travelers went a thousand li unarmed. Annual revenue: over two million strings in grain tax cash, nearly twenty million hu of grain, 7.4 million bolts of yong-diao silk, 1.8 million tun of cotton, and over ten million duan of cloth. The emperor indulged in luxury and spent without restraint; expenditures routinely exceeded revenue. Revenue officials then turned to squeezing the people. Grand Treasury Director Yang Chongli wrung out every penny; counties were hounded year after year for shortages and spoilage. His son Shenjin ran the Grand Treasury and Shenming the capital granaries; both curried favor through harsh exaction. Wang Hong as household levy commissioner presented ten billion strings yearly; extralegal revenue filled the Great Abundance Vault for the emperor's private use. When An Lushan rebelled, Yang Guozhong, finding the regular treasury inadequate for troops, sent Censor Cui Zhong to Taiyuan to sell ordinations—and raised only a million strings in ten days. After both capitals fell, people and wealth were ruined and the empire lay in ruin.
19
肅宗即位，遣御史鄭叔清等籍江淮、蜀漢富商右族訾畜，十收其二，謂之率貸。 諸道亦稅商賈以贍軍，錢一千者有稅。 於是北海郡錄事參軍第五琦以錢谷得見，請於江淮置租庸使，吳鹽、蜀麻、銅冶皆有稅，市輕貨繇江陵、襄陽、上津路轉至鳳翔。 明年，鄭叔清與宰相裴冕建議，以天下用度不充，諸道得召人納錢，給空名告身，授官勛邑號； 度道士僧尼不可勝計； 納錢百千，賜明經出身； 商賈助軍者，給復。 及兩京平，又於關輔諸州，納錢度道士僧尼萬人。 而百姓殘於兵盜，米鬥至錢七千，鬻籺為糧，民行乞食者屬路。 乃詔能賑貧乏者，寵以爵衤失。
Suzong sent Zheng Shuqing to register wealthy families in Jiang-Huai and the southwest and seize two-tenths of their assets—the "assessed lending" levy. Circuits taxed merchants to feed the armies—a tax on every thousand cash. Diwu Qi of Beihai, a clerk who impressed the court with fiscal expertise, proposed zu-yong commissioners in Jiang-Huai; salt, hemp, and copper were taxed; light goods were routed through Jiangling and Xiangyang to Fengxiang. The next year Zheng Shuqing and Pei Mian proposed that circuits sell blank appointments for cash—offices, merit titles, and fief names; ordained countless monks and priests; a hundred or a thousand strings bought a classics degree; merchants who aided the army received tax relief. After the capitals were recovered, ten thousand ordinations were sold for cash in the capital region. The people were ravaged by war; rice cost seven thousand cash per dou; chaff was sold as food; beggars filled the roads. The court rewarded those who relieved the poor with titles of honor.
20
故事，天下財賦歸左藏，而太府以時上其數，尚書比部覆其出入。 是時，京師豪將假取不能禁，第五琦為度支鹽鐵使，請皆歸大盈庫，供天子給賜，主以中官。 自是天下之財為人君私藏，有司不得程其多少。
By custom, revenue went to the Left Vault; the Grand Treasury reported totals; the Ministry audited all receipts and spending. Capital generals looted the treasury at will; Diwu Qi as salt commissioner moved all funds to the Great Abundance Vault for imperial gifts, managed by eunuchs. Henceforth imperial wealth became the emperor's private hoard, beyond official accounting.
21
廣德元年，詔一戶三丁者免一丁，凡畝稅二升，男子二十五為成丁，五十五為老，以優民。 而強寇未夷，民耗斂重。 及吐蕃逼京師，近甸屯兵數萬，百官進俸錢，又率戶以給軍糧。 至大歷元年，詔流民還者，給復二年，田園盡，則授以逃田。 天下苗一畝稅錢十五，市輕貨給百官手力課。 以國用急，不及秋，方苗青即征之，號「青苗錢」又有「地頭錢」，每畝二十，通名為青苗錢。 又詔上都秋稅分二等，上等畝稅一斗，下等六升，荒田畝稅二升。 五年，始定法：夏，上田畝稅六升，下田畝四升； 秋，上田畝稅五升，下田畝三升； 荒田如故； 青苗錢畝加一倍，而地頭錢不在焉。
In Guangde 1, households of three ding lost one; grain tax was two sheng per mu; adult liability began at twenty-five and ended at fifty-five—to ease the people's burden. Yet rebels remained unpacified; the people were exhausted and taxes crushing. When Tibetans threatened the capital, tens of thousands of troops encamped nearby; officials donated salaries and households were levied again for army grain. In Dali 1, returning refugees got two years' relief; if their land was lost, they received abandoned fields. A seedling tax of fifteen cash per mu was levied empire-wide; light goods were bought to pay officials' service fees. With the treasury desperate, tax was collected while seedlings were still green—the "green-crop levy"; plus a "field-head" fee of twenty per mu; both were called green-crop money. The capital's autumn tax was split: upper fields one dou per mu, lower six sheng, wasteland two sheng. In the fifth year rates were fixed: summer tax—upper fields six sheng per mu, lower four; autumn tax—upper fields five sheng, lower three; wasteland unchanged; the green-crop levy was doubled per mu, excluding the field-head fee.
22
初，轉運使掌外，度支使掌內。 永泰二年，分天下財賦、鑄錢、常平、轉運、鹽鐵，置二使。 東都畿內、河南、淮南、江東西、湖南、荊南、山南東道，以轉運使劉晏領之； 京畿、關內、河東、劍南、山南西道，以京兆尹、判度支第五琦領之。 及琦貶，以戶部侍郎、判度支韓滉與晏分治。
Transport commissioners managed external revenue; expenditure commissioners managed internal funds. In Yongtai 2, fiscal authority—revenue, minting, granaries, transport, and salt—was split between two commissioners. The eastern circuits—including the capital region, Henan, Huainan, and the lower Yangzi—fell to Transport Commissioner Liu Yan; The western circuits—the capital, Guanzhong, Hedong, and Sichuan—went to Metropolitan Governor Diwu Qi. After Qi's demotion, Han Huang as vice minister of revenue shared fiscal duties with Yan.
23
時回紇有助收西京功，代宗厚遇之，與中國婚姻，歲送馬十萬匹，酬以縑帛百余萬匹。 而中國財力屈竭，歲負馬價。 河、湟六鎮既陷，歲發防秋兵三萬戍京西，資糧百五十余萬緡。 而中官魚朝恩方恃恩擅權，代宗與宰相元載日夜圖之。 及朝恩誅，帝復與載貳，君臣猜間不協，邊計兵食，置而不議者幾十年。 而諸鎮擅地，結為表裏，日治兵繕壘，天子不能繩以法，顓留意祠禱、焚幣玉、寫浮屠書，度支稟賜僧巫，歲以鉅萬計。 然帝性儉約，身所禦衣，必浣染至再三，欲以先天下。 然生日、端午，四方貢獻至數千萬者，加以恩澤，而諸道尚侈麗以自媚。 朝多留事，經歲不能遣，置客省以居，上封事不足采者、蕃夷貢獻未報及失職未敘者，食度支數千百人。 德宗即位，用宰相崔祐甫，拘客省者出之，食度支者遣之，歲省費萬計。
The Uyghurs had helped retake Chang'an; Daizong favored them with marriage alliances; they sent a hundred thousand horses yearly, paid for with over a million bolts of silk. China's treasury was exhausted, falling short on the horse payments every year. After the Hexi garrisons fell, thirty thousand autumn-defense troops garrisoned the west yearly at a cost of 1.5 million strings. Eunuch Yu Chao'en abused imperial favor; Daizong and Yuan Zai plotted against him day and night. After Chao'en's death, emperor and minister turned on each other; frontier defense and supply went undiscussed for nearly a decade. Regional warlords seized territory, armed themselves, and defied the court; the emperor turned to sacrifices, burning jade offerings, and copying sutras—the treasury gave monks and shamans tens of thousands yearly. Yet the emperor was personally frugal, wearing his robes until they were washed threadbare, hoping to set an example. Yet birthday and Dragon Boat Festival tributes ran to tens of millions; on top of imperial gifts, circuits competed in lavish display. Court business backed up for years; a Guest Bureau housed rejected memorialists, unanswered envoys, and unreinstated officials—thousands on the treasury payroll. When Dezong succeeded, Cui Youfu released Guest Bureau detainees and cut treasury deadwood, saving tens of thousands yearly.