1
25%租庸調之法，以人丁為本。 自開元以後，天下戶籍久不更造，丁口轉死，田畝賣易，貧富升降不實。 其後國家侈費無節，而大盜起，兵興，財用益屈，而租庸調法弊壞。
The zu-yong-diao tax system was founded on the registered male population. After the Kaiyuan period, national household registers went unrevised for years. Deaths and transfers went unrecorded, land changed hands, and the real distribution of wealth no longer matched the books. State expenditure then ran without limit, major rebellions broke out, and war drained the treasury until the zu-yong-diao system collapsed.
2
自代宗時，始以畝定稅，而斂以夏秋。 至德宗相楊炎，遂作兩稅法，夏輸無過六月，秋輸無過十一月。 置兩稅使以總之，量出制入。 戶無主、客，以居者為簿； 人無丁、中，以貧富為差。 商賈稅三十之一，與居者均役。 田稅視大曆十四年墾田之數為定。 遣黜陟使按比諸道丁產等級，免鰥寡惸獨不濟者。 敢有加斂，以枉法論。 議者以租、庸、調，高祖、太宗之法也，不可輕改。 而德宗方信用炎，不疑也。 舊戶三百八十萬五千，使者按比得主戶三百八十萬，客戶三十萬。 天下之民，不土斷而地著，不更版籍而得其虛實。 歲斂錢二千五十餘萬緡，米四百萬斛，以供外； 錢九百五十餘萬緡，米千六百餘萬斛，以供京師。
Under Daizong, taxes were first assessed by acre and collected in summer and autumn installments. When Dezong elevated Yang Yan to chief minister, he enacted the Two-Tax Law, setting a summer deadline in the sixth month and an autumn deadline in the eleventh. He appointed Two-Tax commissioners to administer the system, fixing revenue by estimating expenditures first. Registers no longer distinguished "resident" from "guest" households; whoever actually lived in a district was recorded there. Adult and youth categories were dropped; liability was graded by wealth instead. Merchants paid a thirty-to-one levy and bore corvée obligations on the same basis as residents. Land tax was pegged to the acreage under cultivation as recorded in Dali year 14. The throne dispatched inspection commissioners to verify registers, rank productive capacity by circuit, and exempt widowers, widows, orphans, and others too poor to pay. Any official who imposed surcharges was liable for prosecution as a law-breaker. Opponents argued that zu, yong, and diao were the fiscal foundations laid by Gaozu and Taizong and must not be lightly discarded. Dezong, however, was wholly convinced by Yang Yan and would not be swayed. The old registers listed 3,805,000 households; after review, resident households totaled 3,800,000 and guest households 300,000. The people were tied to where they actually lived without redrawing territorial boundaries, and the government learned the real situation without overhauling the registers. Annual collections yielded more than 20.5 million strings of cash and four million bushels of grain for provincial circuits. The capital received more than 9.5 million strings of cash and over sixteen million bushels of grain.
3
稅法既行，民力未及寬，而朱滔、王武俊、田悅合從而叛，用益不給，而借商之令出。 初，太常博士韋都賓、陳京請借富商錢，德宗以問度支杜佑，以為軍費裁支數月，幸得商錢五百萬緡，可支半歲。 乃以戶部侍郎趙贊判度支，代佑行借錢令，約罷兵乃償之。 京兆少尹韋楨、長安丞薛萃，搜督甚峻，民有不勝其冤自經者，家若被盜。 然總京師豪人田宅、奴婢之估，裁得八十萬緡。 又取僦櫃納質錢及粟麥糶於巿者，四取其一，長安為罷市，市民相率遮邀宰相哭訴，盧杞疾驅而過。 韋楨懼，乃請錢不及百緡、粟麥不及五十斛者免，而所獲裁二百萬緡。 淮南節度使陳少游增其本道稅錢，每緡二百，因詔天下皆增之。
The new tax law had barely taken effect and the people had not yet felt relief when Zhu Tao, Wang Wujun, and Tian Yue rebelled together. Revenue fell short, and the court ordered loans from merchants. Erudites of the Imperial Ancestral Temple Wei Dubin and Chen Jing first proposed borrowing from rich merchants. Dezong consulted Du You, director of revenue, who replied that army funds would last only a few months but that five million strings from merchants could sustain the war for half a year. Zhao Zan, vice minister of revenue, was assigned to the directorate of revenue to replace Du You and enforce the loan order, with repayment promised after the armies stood down. Wei Zhen, vice prefect of Jingzhao, and Xue Cui, assistant magistrate of Chang'an, enforced collection with brutal severity. Some victims hanged themselves in despair; households were stripped as if by bandits. Yet valuing the mansions, land, and slaves of the capital's rich produced only eight hundred thousand strings. They also levied one quarter on pawn deposits and on grain sold in the markets. Chang'an shut its markets; crowds blocked the chief minister's path, weeping in protest, while Lu Qi drove past without stopping. Fearing riot, Wei Zhen secured exemption for sums under one hundred strings or fifty bushels of grain, but the haul still reached only two million strings. Chen Shaoyou, military governor of Huainan, raised his circuit's tax assessment to two hundred cash per nominal string, and an edict extended the increase empire-wide.
4
自太宗時置義倉及常平倉以備凶荒，高宗以後，稍假義倉以給他費，至神龍中略盡。 玄宗即位，復置之。 其後第五琦請天下常平倉皆置庫，以畜本錢。 至是趙贊又言：「自軍興，常平倉廢垂三十年，凶荒潰散，餧死相食，不可勝紀。 陛下即位，京城兩市置常平官，雖頻年少雨，米不騰貴，可推而廣之，宜兼儲布帛。 請於兩都、江陵、成都、揚、汴、蘇、洪置常平輕重本錢，上至百萬緡，下至十萬，積米、粟、布、帛、絲、麻，貴則下價而出之，賤則加估而收之。 諸道津會置吏，閱商賈錢，每緡稅二十，竹、木、茶、漆稅十之一，以贍常平本錢。」 德宗納其策。 屬軍用迫蹵，亦隨而耗竭，不能備常平之積。
Taizong had established charity granaries and ever-normal granaries against famine. After Gaozong they were repeatedly diverted to other expenses, and by the Shenlong era the reserves were nearly gone. Xuanzong restored them on his accession. Later Diwu Qi proposed that every ever-normal granary in the empire maintain storehouses holding operating capital. Zhao Zan now argued: "Since the wars began, ever-normal granaries have been neglected for nearly thirty years. Famine drove people apart; they starved in such numbers that corpses fed the living beyond counting. Since Your Majesty's accession, ever-normal officers in the capital's two markets have kept grain prices steady despite poor rains. The system should be expanded, and cloth and silk stockpiled as well. He proposed ever-normal funds from one million strings down to one hundred thousand at the two capitals, Jiangling, Chengdu, Yangzhou, Bian, Suzhou, and Hongzhou, stockpiling grain, cloth, silk, and hemp to sell cheap when prices rose and buy dear when they fell. Tax agents at circuit crossings were to inspect merchant funds, levy twenty cash per string, and take one-tenth on bamboo, timber, tea, and lacquer to fund the ever-normal reserves. Dezong accepted the plan. Military demand soon consumed the reserves, and ever-normal stockpiles could not be maintained.
5
是時，諸道討賊，兵在外者，度支給出界糧。 每軍以臺省官一人為糧料使，主供億。 士卒出境，則給酒肉。 一卒出境，兼三人之費。 將士利之，逾境而屯。
While circuits campaigned against rebels, the directorate of revenue supplied grain to armies operating outside their home territories. Each army appointed one capital official as grain commissioner to manage supplies. Soldiers received wine and meat once they crossed a border. A single soldier abroad cost the treasury three men's rations. Officers profited from the arrangement and kept troops camped across borders.
6
趙贊復請稅間架，算除陌。 其法：屋二架為間，上間錢二千，中間一千，下間五日； 匿一間，杖六十，告者賞錢五萬。 除陌法：公私貿易，千錢舊算二十，加為五十； 物兩相易者，約直為率。 而民益愁怨。 及涇原兵反，大謼長安市中曰：「不奪爾商戶僦質，不稅爾間架、除陌矣。」 於是間架、除陌、竹、木、茶、漆、鐵之稅皆罷。
Zhao Zan next proposed the structure tax and the transaction-stamp levy. Two roof-bays formed one taxable unit: upper units at two thousand cash, middle at one thousand, lower at five hundred cash; concealing a unit brought sixty blows of the staff; informers received fifty thousand cash. For the transaction-stamp levy on public and private trade, the old rate of twenty cash per thousand was raised to fifty; where goods were bartered, estimated value set the rate. Popular resentment deepened. When Jingyuan troops mutinied, they shouted through Chang'an: "We will not seize your pawn deposits or tax your structure and stamp dues! The structure tax, stamp levy, and taxes on bamboo, timber, tea, lacquer, and iron were all abolished.
7
朱泚平，天下戶口三耗其二。 貞元四年，詔天下兩稅審等第高下，三年一定戶。 自初定兩稅，貨重錢輕，乃計錢而輸綾絹。 既而物價愈下，所納愈多，絹匹為錢三千二百，其後一匹為錢一千六百，輸一者過二，雖賦不增舊，而民愈困矣。 度支以稅物頒諸司，皆增本價為虛估給之，而繆以濫惡督州縣剝價，謂之折納。 復有「進奉」、「宣索」之名，改科役曰「召雇」，率配曰「和市」，以巧避微文，比大曆之數再倍。 又癘疫水旱，戶口減耗，刺史析戶，張虛數以寬責。 逃死闕稅，取於居者，一室空而四鄰亦盡。 戶版不緝，無浮游之禁，州縣行小惠以傾誘鄰境，新收者優假之，唯安居不遷之民，賦役日重。 帝以問宰相陸贄，贄上疏請釐革其甚害者，大略有六：其一曰：
After Zhu Ci's defeat, two-thirds of the empire's registered population was gone. In Zhenyuan 4 an edict ordered circuits to review two-tax grades and fix household registers every three years. When the two taxes were first fixed, commodities were costly and cash cheap, so assessments were reckoned in money but paid in silk. Prices then kept falling while payments rose: a bolt of silk worth 3,200 cash, later only 1,600, yet taxpayers still owed more than double the original quota. The nominal rate never rose, but the burden doubled. The directorate distributed tax goods to ministries at inflated "book" valuations, then forced prefectures to accept shoddy goods at slashed prices—"folded collection." New labels appeared—"tribute presented," "imperial requisition"—while corvée became "summoned hire" and requisitions "harmonized purchase." Evasions of statute doubled Dali-era exactions. Plague, flood, and drought shrank the population; prefects split households and padded registers to meet quotas. Taxes lost to flight and death were shifted onto those who stayed; one vacant house could ruin an entire neighborhood. Registers fell into disorder and vagrancy went unchecked. Counties lured neighbors' subjects with favors, easing taxes on newcomers while long-settled households paid ever more. The emperor asked chief minister Lu Zhi for remedy. Zhi memorialized with six major reforms. The first point:
8
:國家賦役之法，曰租、曰調、曰庸。 其取法遠，其斂財均，其域人固。 有田則有租，有家則有調，有身則有庸，天下法制均壹，雖轉徙莫容其姦，故人無搖心。 天寶之季，海內波蕩，版圖隳於避地，賦法壞於奉軍。 賦役舊法，行之百年，人以為便。 兵興，供億不常，誅求隳制，此時弊，非法弊也。 時有弊而未理，法無弊而已更。 兩稅新制，竭耗編甿，日日滋甚。 陛下初即位，宜損上益下，嗇用節財，而摘郡邑，驗簿書，州取大曆中一年科率多者為兩稅定法，此總無名之暴賦而立常規也。 夫財之所生，必因人力。 兩稅以資產為宗，不以丁身為本，資產少者稅輕，多者稅重。 不知有藏於襟懷囊篋，物貴而人莫窺者； 有場圃、囷倉，直輕而衆以為富者； 有流通蕃息之貨，數寡而日收其贏者； 有廬舍器用，價高而終歲利寡者。 計估算緡，失平長偽，挾輕費轉徙者脫傜稅，敦本業者困斂求。 此誘之為姦，敺之避役也。 今傜賦輕重相百，而以舊為準，重處流亡益多，輕處歸附益衆。 有流亡則攤出，已重者愈重； 有歸附則散出，已輕者愈輕。 人嬰其弊。 願詔有司與宰相量年支，有不急者罷之，廣費者節之。 軍興加稅，諸道權宜所增，皆可停。 稅物估價，宜視月平，至京與色樣符者，不得虛稱折估。 有濫惡，罪官吏，勿督百姓。 每道以知兩稅判官一人與度支參計戶數，量土地沃瘠、物產多少為二等，州等下者配錢少，高者配錢多。 不變法而逋逃漸息矣。
The state's tax and corvée system comprises zu, diao, and yong. Its reach was broad, its burdens even, and its hold on the people secure. Land brought zu, households diao, persons yong. Law was uniform empire-wide; even migrants could not easily evade duty, so people felt secure in their obligations. In the Tianbao years the realm convulsed; maps were lost as people fled; tax law broke down under army supply demands. The old system had run a century and people considered it workable. War made supply irregular and exactions wrecked administration—that was a failure of the moment, not of the statute itself. Timely abuses went unreformed while a sound law was discarded. The new two-tax system drained the registered peasantry daily. On accession you should have eased burdens on the people; instead each province's highest Dali-era annual exaction became the fixed two-tax quota—turning arbitrary surcharges into permanent law. All wealth comes from human labor. The two taxes assess property, not persons: the poor pay little, the rich much. They cannot see cash hoarded on one's person—wealth invisible to assessors; farmyards and granaries valued cheaply yet deemed wealthy by neighbors; trading stock that turns over fast with small inventory but steady profit; mansions and tools priced high yet yielding little annual return. Cash-string assessments are unfair and invite fraud: those with portable wealth flee; those tied to farming bear the heaviest levies. The system rewards deceit and flight from duty. Corvée and tax burdens now vary a hundredfold, yet old quotas stand. Heavy districts lose population; light ones gain settlers. Flight forces surcharges onto those who remain, worsening already heavy districts; settlement disperses quotas, easing already light districts. The people are crushed between the two. Let relevant offices and chief ministers tally annual needs, abolish non-urgent spending, and cut extravagance. Wartime surcharges and circuit emergency taxes should cease. Tax goods should be valued at monthly fair prices; capital deliveries must match samples, without false "folded" discounts. Punish officials for shoddy goods, not commoners. Each circuit should assign one two-tax officer with the directorate to count households and rank land fertility and products; poorer prefectures owe less cash, richer ones more. Without changing the law itself, flight would gradually end.
9
其二曰：
The second point:
10
:播殖非力不成，故先王定賦以布、麻、繒、纊、百穀，勉人功也。 又懼物失貴賤之平，交易難準，乃定貨泉以節輕重。 蓋為國之利權，守之在官，不以任下。 然則穀帛，人所為也； 錢貨，官所為也。 人所為者，租稅取焉； 官所為者，賦斂捨焉。 國朝著令，租出穀，庸出絹，調出繒、纊、布、麻，曷嘗禁人鑄錢而以錢為賦？ 今兩稅効算緡之末法，估資產為差，以錢穀定稅，折供雜物，歲目頗殊。 所供非所業，所業非所供，增價以市所無，減價以貿所有，耕織之力有限，而物價貴錢無常。 初定兩稅，萬錢為絹三匹，價貴而數不多。 及給軍裝，計數不計價，此稅少國用不充也。 近者萬錢為絹六匹，價賤而數加。 計口蠶織不殊，而所輸倍，此供稅多人力不給也。 宜令有司覆初定兩稅之歲絹、布定估，為布帛之數，復庸、調舊制，隨土所宜，各脩家技。 物甚賤，所出不加； 物甚貴，所入不減。 且經費所資，在錢者獨月俸、資課，以錢數多少給布，廣鑄而禁用銅器，則錢不乏。 有糴鹽以入直，榷酒以納資，何慮無所給哉！
Agriculture requires labor; ancient kings therefore levied cloth, hemp, silk, and grain to reward work. They also feared unstable prices and fixed currency to regulate value. Monetary profit and power belonged to the state, held by officials, not delegated downward. Grain and cloth are what people produce; cash is what government mints. What people make supplies zu and tax; what government mints is kept out of direct levies. Dynastic law had zu from grain, yong from silk, diao from silk and cloth—when did the throne forbid private coinage yet demand cash as tax? The two taxes imitate late cash-string assessment, grade by property, fix dues in cash and grain, then convert to assorted goods—annual quotas wildly inconsistent. Taxpayers must deliver what they do not grow, at prices they cannot control, while farming and weaving capacity is finite and markets swing without warning. At first ten thousand cash equaled three bolts of silk—high prices, modest quantities. Army issue counted bolts, not value—revenue fell short. Recently ten thousand cash buys six bolts—cheap goods, doubled quantities. Households weave no more than before yet pay double—burdens outran labor. Offices should restore the original silk and cloth valuations from the first two-tax year, reinstate yong and diao, and let each household pursue its local craft as soil permits. When prices are very low, payments should not rise; when prices are very high, collections should not fall. Routine spending needs cash only for salaries and stipends, which can be paid in cloth by cash value. Expand minting and ban private copperware, and money will suffice. Salt sales and wine monopolies can fund the state—why strip farmers?
11
其三曰：
The third point:
12
:廉使奏吏之能者有四科，一曰戶口增加，二曰田野墾闢，三曰稅錢長數，四曰率辦先期。 夫貴戶口增加，詭情以誘姦浮，苛法以析親族，所誘者將議薄征則遽散，所析者不勝重稅而亡，有州縣破傷之病。 貴田野墾闢，率民殖荒田，限年免租，新畝雖闢，舊畬蕪矣。 人以免租年滿，復為污萊，有稼穡不增之病。 貴稅錢長數，重困疲羸，捶骨瀝髓，苟媚聚斂之司，有不恤人之病。 貴率辦先期，作威殘人，絲不容織，粟不暇舂，貧者奔迸，有不恕物之病。 四病繇考覈不切事情之過。 驗之以實，則租賦所加，固有受其損者，此州若增客戶，彼郡必減居人。 增處邀賞而稅數加，減處懼罪而稅數不降。 國家設考課之法，非欲崇聚斂也。 宜命有司詳考課績，州稅有定，傜役有等，覆實然後報戶部。 若人益阜實，稅額有餘，據戶均減十三為上課，減二次之，減一又次之。 若流亡多，加稅見戶者，殿亦如之。 民納租以去歲輸數為常，罷據額所率者。 增闢勿益租，廢耕不降數。 定戶之際，視雜產以校之。 田既有常租，則不宜復入兩稅。 如此，不督課而人人樂耕矣。
Inspectors ranked officials on four counts: population growth, land reclaimed, tax revenue growth, and early quota completion. Praising population growth invites fraud and family-splitting to dodge tax; the lured flee when rates ease, the split cannot pay and die—counties are ruined. Praising reclamation drives planting wasteland with rent holidays; new acres open while old fields lie fallow. When exemptions expire, fields revert to waste—tillage never truly grows. Praising revenue growth crushes the weak and rewards extortionists—officials forget the people. Praising early collection leaves no time to weave or thresh; the poor flee—production itself is harmed. All four ills stem from performance reviews divorced from reality. In practice, added tax burdens someone: one prefecture's "growth" is another's loss of residents. Growing districts chase rewards and raise quotas; shrinking ones fear punishment and never lower them. The examination system was never meant to glorify extraction. Offices should audit performance carefully, fix prefectural tax and corvée grades, and report to the Ministry of Revenue only after verification. Where population and wealth grow and quotas exceed need, cut assessments by thirty, twenty, or ten percent by grade. Where flight is heavy and survivors are surcharged, officials should be demoted likewise. Payments should follow last year's actual delivery, not quota targets. Reclamation must not raise rent; abandoned fields must not reduce headcounts artificially. Household registration should weigh miscellaneous production fairly. Land already paying regular rent should not be taxed again under the two-tax system. Then people would farm willingly without coercion.
13
其四曰：
The fourth point:
14
:明君不厚所資而害所養，故先人事而借其暇力，家給然後斂餘財。 今督收迫促，蠶事方興而輸縑，農功未艾而斂穀。 有者急賣而耗半直，無者求假費倍。 定兩稅之初，期約未詳，屬征役多故，率先限以收。 宜定稅期，隨風俗時候，務於紓人。
Wise rulers do not fund the state by starving the people. Ancient kings used labor in season and taxed only after households were secure. Collection is rushed: silk is demanded at mulberry season, grain before harvest ends. Owners sell cheap in panic; the poor borrow at usurious rates. Early two-tax rules lacked clear deadlines; wartime exactions forced premature collection. Set tax seasons by local custom to relieve the people.
15
其五曰：
The fifth point:
16
:頃師旅亟興，官司所儲，唯給軍食，凶荒不遑賑救。 人小乏則取息利，大乏則鬻田廬。 斂穫始畢，執契行貸，饑歲室家相棄，乞為奴僕，猶莫之售，或縊死道途。 天災流行，四方代有。 稅茶錢積戶部者，宜計諸道戶口均之。 穀麥熟則平糴，亦以義倉為名，主以巡院。 時稔傷農，則優價廣糴，穀貴而止； 小歉則借貸。 循環斂散，使聚穀幸災者無以牟大利。
Constant warfare left granaries for soldiers alone; famine relief was neglected. Minor want drove men to usury; utter ruin forced sale of land and home. Fresh harvest brought loan sharks; in famine years families cast off kin, offered themselves as slaves unsold, and hanged themselves on the roads. Disasters struck every region in turn. Tea-tax reserves at the Ministry of Revenue should be distributed by circuit population. At harvest, the state should buy grain fairly through charity-granary offices under patrol commissioners. In bumper years hurtful to farmers, buy generously at fair prices until prices rise; in lean years, lend. Rotate stockpiles so hoarders cannot profit from famine.
17
其六曰：
The sixth point:
18
:古者百畝地號一夫，蓋一夫授田不得過百畝，欲使人不廢業，田無曠耕。 今富者萬畝，貧者無容足之居，依託彊家，為其私屬，終歲服勞，常患不充。 有田之家坐食租稅，京畿田畝稅五升，而私家收租畝一石，官取一，私取十，穡者安得足食？ 宜為占田條限，裁租價，損有餘，優不足，此安富恤窮之善經，不可捨也。 贄言雖切，以讒逐，事無施行者。
Antiquity allotted one cultivator no more than a hundred mu so none would abandon farming or leave land idle. Today the rich hold ten thousand mu while the poor lack footing, attaching to great houses as dependents, laboring all year yet still hungry. Landlords live on rent: capital fields owed the state five sheng per mu but private landlords ten times that—one part to the throne, ten to the lord—how could peasants eat their fill? Set land ceilings, cap rents, tax the rich lightly and aid the poor—classic policy for social balance and not to be abandoned. Zhi's counsel was urgent, but slander drove him out and none of it was enacted.
19
十二年，河南尹齊抗復論其弊，以為：「軍興，國用稍廣，隨要而稅，吏擾人勞。 陛下變為兩稅，督納有時，貪暴無容其姦。 二十年間，府庫充牣。 但定稅之初，錢輕貨重，故陛下以錢為稅。 今錢重貨輕，若更為稅名，以就其輕，其利有六：吏絕其姦，一也； 人用不擾，二也； 靜而獲利，三也； 用不乏錢，四也； 不勞而易知，五也； 農桑自勸，六也。 百姓本出布帛，而稅反配錢，至輸時復取布帛，更為三估計折，州縣升降成姦。 若直定布帛，無估可折。 蓋以錢為稅，則人力竭而有司不之覺。 今兩稅出於農人，農人所有，唯布帛而已。 用布帛處多，用錢處少，又有鼓鑄以助國計，何必取於農人哉？」 疏入，亦不報。
In year twelve, Henan prefect Qi Kang renewed the critique: war had widened spending, ad hoc taxes multiplied, and clerks tormented the people. Your Majesty's two-tax reform timed collection and checked official extortion. Within twenty years the treasuries filled. At first cash was cheap and goods dear, so the throne taxed in money. Now money is dear and goods cheap. Renaming the tax to follow commodity values would yield six gains: first, officials could not cheat; second, the people would not be harassed; third, revenue would rise without turmoil; fourth, the treasury would not lack coin; fifth, rules would be simple; sixth, farming and sericulture would revive themselves. Farmers produce cloth and silk, yet taxes are assessed in cash and collected in cloth after triple valuation—prefectures manipulate prices at will. Fix payment in cloth and silk and valuation fraud ends. Cash taxation exhausts labor while officials remain blind to it. The two taxes fall on farmers, who own only cloth and silk. Cloth and silk circulate widely; coin is needed less, and minting aids the treasury—why burden farmers? The memorial went in and again received no answer.
20
初，德宗居奉天，儲畜空窘，嘗遣卒視賊，以苦寒乞襦絝，帝不能致，剔親王帶金而鬻之。 朱泚既平，於是帝屬意聚斂，常賦之外，進奉不息。 劍南西川節度使韋皋有「日進」，江西觀察使李兼有「月進」，淮南節度使杜亞、宣歙觀察使劉贊、鎮海節度使王緯李錡皆徼射恩澤，以常賦入貢，名為「羨餘」。 至代易又有「進奉」。 當是時，戶部錢物，所在州府及巡院皆得擅留，或矯密旨加斂，謫官吏、刻祿稟，增稅通津、死人及蔬果。 凡代易進奉，取於稅入，十獻二三，無敢問者。 常州刺史裴肅鬻薪炭案紙為進奉，得遷浙東觀察使。 刺史進奉，自肅始也。 劉贊卒于宣州，其判官嚴綬傾軍府為進奉，召為刑部員外郎。 判官進奉，自綬始也。 自裴延齡用事，益為天子積私財，而生民重困。 延齡死，而人相賀。
Early in Dezong's refuge at Fengtian, stores were bare. Soldiers scouting rebels begged for winter coats the emperor could not supply; he sold princes' belt gold instead. After Zhu Ci's defeat, Dezong turned to hoarding; beyond regular taxes, "presented tribute" never stopped. Wei Gao in Jiannan sent "daily tribute," Li Jian in Jiangxi "monthly tribute"; Du Ya, Liu Zan, Wang Wei, and Li Qian converted regular taxes into "surplus" gifts for favor. Each new appointee brought fresh "presented tribute." Revenue offices everywhere hoarded funds, forged secret edicts for surcharges, cut salaries, and taxed ferries, corpses, even fruit and vegetables. Succession tributes skimmed two or three tenths of tax intake, and none dared object. Changzhou prefect Pei Su sold firewood and paper as tribute and won promotion to Zhedong observer. Prefectural tribute began with Pei Su. When Liu Zan died, aide Yan Shou emptied the commandery treasury for tribute and became vice minister of justice. Staff-level tribute began with Yan Shou. Under Pei Yanling the emperor's private hoard grew and the people suffered doubly. When Yanling died, people celebrated.
21
是時，宮中取物於市，以中官為宮市使。 兩市置「白望」數十百人，以鹽估敝衣、絹帛，尺寸分裂酬其直。 又索進奉門戶及脚價錢，有齎物入市而空歸者。 每中官出，沽漿賣餅之家皆徹肆塞門。 諫官御史數上疏諫，不聽，人不堪其弊。 戶部侍郎蘇弁言：「京師游手數千萬家，無生業者仰宮市以活，奈何罷？」 帝悅，以為然。 京兆尹韋湊奏：「小人因宮市為姦，真偽難辨，宜下府縣供送。」 帝許之。 中官言百姓賴宮市以養者也，湊反得罪。
The palace then bought through eunuch "palace market" agents. Hundreds of "white watchers" in the two markets priced goods with salt as a standard, paying threadbare cloth and silk penny by penny. They also extorted tribute fees and porterage; merchants sometimes returned with nothing. Whenever eunuchs appeared, noodle and cake shops shut their doors. Censors protested repeatedly, but the emperor ignored them; the abuse was unbearable. Su Bian argued: millions in the capital lived off the palace market—how could it close? The emperor agreed and was pleased. Wei Cou, prefect of Jingzhao, proposed county supply instead because palace-market fraud was rampant. The emperor approved. Eunuchs claimed the people needed the palace market; Cou was punished instead.
22
順宗即位，乃罷宮市使及鹽鐵使月進。 憲宗又罷除官受代進奉及諸道兩稅外榷率； 分天下之賦以為三，一曰上供，二曰送使，三曰留州。 宰相裴垍又令諸道節度、觀察調費取於所治州，不足則取於屬州，而屬州送使之餘與其上供者，皆輸度支。
Shunzong abolished the palace market and monthly salt-iron tribute. Xianzong ended succession tribute and circuit monopolies beyond the two taxes; and split revenues into three shares: central tribute, envoy funds, and local retention. Pei Ji required governors to fund expenses from governed prefectures, then subordinates; surpluses went to the directorate of revenue.
23
是時，因德宗府庫之積，頗約費用，天子身服澣濯。 及劉闢、李錡既平，訾藏皆入內庫。 山南東道節度使于頔、河東節度使王鍔進獻甚厚，翰林學士李絳嘗諫曰：「方鎮進獻，因緣為姦，以侵百姓，非聖政所宜。」 帝喟然曰：「誠知非至德事，然兩河中夏貢賦之地，朝覲久廢，河、湟陷沒，烽候列於郊甸。 方刷祖宗之恥，不忍重斂於人也。」 然獨不知進獻之取於人者重矣。
Thanks to Dezong's hoard, Xianzong cut spending and wore patched robes. After suppressing Liu Pi and Li Qian, seized wealth filled the inner treasury. Yu Di and Wang E sent lavish gifts. Li Jiang warned: frontier gifts invite fraud and hurt the people—unworthy of sage rule. The emperor sighed: he knew it was wrong, yet the heartland had long ceased tribute audiences, the northwest was lost, and beacons burned at the capital's edge. He was redeeming ancestral shame and could not bear to tax the people further—so he said. Yet he failed to see that presentations weighed heavier still on the people.
24
及討淮西，判度支楊於陵坐饋餫不繼貶，以司農卿皇甫鎛代之，由是益為刻剝。 司農卿王遂、京兆尹李翛號能聚斂，乃以為宣歙、浙西觀察使，予之富饒之地，以辦財賦。 鹽鐵使王播言：「劉晏領使時，自按租庸，然後知州縣錢穀利病虛實。」 乃以副使程异巡江、淮，覈州府上供錢穀。 异至江、淮，得錢百八十五萬貫。 其年，遂代播為鹽鐵使。 是時，河北兵討王承宗，於是募人入粟河北、淮西者，自千斛以上皆授以官。 度支鹽鐵與諸道貢獻尤甚，號「助軍錢」。 及賊平，則有賀禮及助賞設物。 羣臣上尊號，又有獻賀物。
Campaigning against Huai-Xi, Yang Yuling was demoted for supply failures; Huangfu Bo replaced him and extraction grew crueler. Wang Sui and Li Chong, famed extortionists, were sent to rich Xuan-She and Zhexi to raise revenue. Wang Bo said Liu Yan had audited zu and yong himself to learn each prefecture's true fiscal condition. He sent vice commissioner Cheng Yi to tour Jiang-Huai and audit tribute funds. Yi recovered 1.85 million strings from Jiang-Huai. That year Yi replaced Wang Bo as salt-iron commissioner. While Hebei forces fought Wang Chengzong, the court recruited grain donors of a thousand bushels or more to Hebei and Huai-Xi with official posts. Revenue, salt-iron, and circuit gifts surged under the name "aid-the-army funds." After victories came congratulatory gifts and victory banquets. Honorific ceremonies brought further congratulatory gifts.
25
穆宗即位，一切罷之，兩稅外加率一錢者，以枉法贓論。 然自在藩邸時，習見用兵之弊，以謂戎臣武卒，法當姑息。 及即位，自神策諸軍，非時賞賜，不可勝紀。 已而幽州兵囚張弘靖，鎮州殺田弘正，兩鎮用兵，置南北供軍院。 而行營軍十五萬，不能亢兩鎮萬餘之眾。 而饋運不能給，帛粟未至而諸軍或彊奪於道。
Muzong abolished these exactions; adding even one cash above the two taxes was treated as corruption. Yet as heir he had learned to indulge generals and soldiers as a matter of policy. On accession he showered the Shence armies with unscheduled rewards beyond count. Youzhou imprisoned Zhang Hongjing and Zhenzhou killed Tian Hongzheng; war between the two circuits followed, with north and south supply offices created. Yet a field army of 150,000 could not overcome the two circuits' ten thousand-odd troops. Supply lines failed; armies seized grain and cloth on the roads before official deliveries arrived.
26
蓋自建中定兩稅，而物輕錢重，民以為患，至是四十年。 當時為絹二匹半者為八匹，大率加三倍。 豪家大商，積錢以逐輕重，故農人日困，末業日增。 帝亦以貨輕錢重，民困而用不充，詔百官議革其弊。 而議者多請重挾銅之律。 戶部尚書楊於陵曰：「王者制錢以權百貨，貿遷有無，通變不倦，使物無甚貴甚賤，其術非它，在上而已。 何則？ 上之所重，人必從之。 古者權之於上，今索之於下； 昔散之四方，今藏之公府； 昔廣鑄以資用，今減鑪以廢功； 昔行之於中原，今洩之於邊裔。 又有閭井送終之唅，商賈貸舉之積，江湖壓覆之耗，則錢焉得不重，貨焉得不輕？ 開元中，天下鑄錢七十餘鑪，歲盈百萬，今纔十數鑪，歲入十五萬而已。 大曆以前，淄青、太原、魏博雜鉛鐵以通時用，嶺南雜以金、銀、丹砂、象齒，今一用泉貨，故錢不足。 今宜使天下兩稅、榷酒、鹽利、上供及留州、送使錢，悉輸以布帛穀粟，則人寬於所求，然後出內府之積，收市廛之滯，廣山鑄之數，限邊裔之出，禁私家之積，則貨日重而錢日輕矣。」 宰相善其議。 由是兩稅、上供、留州，皆易以布帛、絲纊，租、庸、課、調不計錢而納布帛，唯鹽酒本以榷率計錢，與兩稅異，不可去錢。
Since Jianzhong fixed the two taxes, commodities had been cheap and cash dear—a forty-year affliction for the people. Silk dues that had been two and a half bolts became eight—roughly tripled. Great merchants hoarded coin to play on price swings; farmers grew poorer while commerce expanded. Seeing goods cheap, cash dear, and revenue short, the emperor ordered officials to debate remedies. Most urged harsher anti-hoarding laws on copper. Revenue minister Yang Yuling said: "The throne regulates currency to balance trade and keep prices stable—the key lies with the sovereign alone. How so? What the court values, people follow. Antiquity kept monetary power above; today it is squeezed from below; once coin circulated widely; now it is locked in public vaults; minting was expanded for use; now furnaces are cut and production idled; once currency served the heartland; now it drains to the frontiers. Village funeral hoards, merchant loans, and losses in transit further drain coin—no wonder cash is dear and goods cheap. Kaiyuan had seventy mints yielding a million a year; now barely ten mints yield 150,000. Once rebellious circuits coined base metal and the south used gold and silver; now only official coin circulates, so money is scarce. Pay two taxes, monopolies, tribute, and retention in cloth and grain; then release imperial stores, buy up market surpluses, expand minting, limit border outflow, and ban private hoarding—commodities will rise and coin will cheapen. Chief ministers approved. Two taxes and tribute shifted to cloth and silk; zu, yong, and diao were paid in kind. Only salt and wine monopolies still used cash.
27
文宗大和九年，以天下回殘錢置常平義倉本錢，歲增市之。 非遇水旱不增者，判官罰俸，書下考； 州縣假借，以枉法論。
In Wenzong Dahe 9, remnant coin was assigned as ever-normal and charity granary capital, replenished by annual purchases. Officials who failed to increase reserves except in flood or drought lost salary and received poor evaluations; prefectural borrowing was prosecuted as corruption.
28
文宗嘗召監倉御史崔虞問太倉粟數，對曰：「有粟二百五十萬石。」 帝曰：「今歲費廣而所畜寡，奈何？」 乃詔出使郎官、御史督察州縣壅遏錢穀者。 時豪民侵噬產業不移戶，州縣不敢傜役，而征稅皆出下貧。 至於依富室為奴客，役罰峻於州縣。 長吏歲輒遣吏巡覆田稅，民苦其擾。
Wenzong asked supervising granary censor Cui Yu how much grain the Great Granary held; he answered 2.5 million shi. The emperor said: "Expenses are high and stores low—what can be done? He ordered envoys and censors to investigate counties hoarding grain and funds. Great families swallowed estates without registering them; counties dared not conscript the powerful, taxing only the poorest. Dependents of rich houses faced harsher labor and penalties than from the state. Each year magistrates sent clerks to re-audit field tax, harassing the people.
29
武宗即位，廢浮圖法，天下毀寺四千六百、招提蘭若四萬，籍僧尼為民二十六萬五千人，奴婢十五萬人，田數千萬頃，大秦穆護、祅二千餘人。 上都、東都每街留寺二，每寺僧三十人，諸道留僧以三等，不過二十人。 腴田鬻錢送戶部，中下田給寺家奴婢丁壯者為兩稅戶，人十畝。 以僧尼既盡，兩京悲田養病坊，給寺田十頃，諸州七頃，主以耆壽。
Wuzong suppressed Buddhism: 4,600 monasteries and 40,000 shrines destroyed, 265,000 clergy and 150,000 dependents secularized, millions of mu seized, and over 2,000 Manichean and Zoroastrian priests expelled. The two capitals kept two temples per ward with thirty monks each; circuits kept up to twenty by grade. Fertile monastic land was sold for revenue; lesser land went to former dependents registered as taxpayers at ten mu each. With clergy gone, charity hospitals in the capitals received ten qing of former temple land, seven in the provinces, run by elders.
30
自會昌末，置備邊庫，收度支、戶部、鹽鐵錢物。 宣宗更號延資庫。 初以度支郎中判之，至是以屬宰相，其任益重。 戶部歲送錢帛二十萬，度支鹽鐵送者三十萬，諸道進奉助軍錢皆輸焉。
From late Huichang a frontier reserve treasury absorbed revenue, salt-iron, and ministry funds. Xuanzong renamed it the Extended-Funds Treasury. Initially a revenue bureau director managed it; later it fell under the chief minister with greater weight. The Ministry of Revenue sent 200,000 yearly, revenue and salt-iron 300,000, and circuit aid-the-army gifts—all to this treasury.
31
懿宗時，雲南蠻數內寇，徙兵戍嶺南。 淮北大水，征賦不能辦，人人思亂。 及龐勛反，附者六七萬。 自關東至海大旱，冬蔬皆盡，貧者以蓬子為麵，槐葉為齏。 乾符初，大水，山東饑。 中官田令孜為神策中尉，怙權用事，督賦益急。 王仙芝、黃巢等起，天下遂亂，公私困竭。 昭宗在鳳翔，為梁兵所圍，城中人相食，父食其子，而天子食粥，六宮及宗室多餓死。 其窮至於如此，遂以亡。
Under Yizong, Nanzhao raids drove troops south to Lingnan. Huaibei flooding prevented tax collection; rebellion was on every mind. Pang Xun's rebellion drew sixty or seventy thousand followers. Drought from Guandong to the coast destroyed winter crops; the poor ate cogon-root flour and pagoda-leaf relish. At Qianfu's start, floods brought famine to Shandong. Eunuch Tian Lingzi, Shence director, abused power and squeezed taxes ever harder. Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao rose; the empire collapsed and treasuries emptied. Besieged at Fengxiang by Liang forces, Zhaozong ate gruel while the court starved; the city turned to cannibalism. Destitution reached this point—and the dynasty fell.
32
初，乾元末，天下上計百六十九州，戶百九十三萬三千一百二十四，不課者百一十七萬四千五百九十二； 口千六百九十九萬三百八十六，不課者千四百六十一萬九千五百八十七。 減天寶戶五百九十八萬二千五百八十四，口三千五百九十二萬八千七百二十三。 元和中，供歲賦者，浙西、浙東、宣歙、淮南、江西、鄂岳、福建、湖南八道，戶百四十四萬，比天寶纔四之一。 兵食於官者八十三萬，加天寶三之一，通以二戶養一兵。 京西北、河北以屯兵廣，無上供。 至長慶，戶三百三十五萬，而兵九十九萬，率三戶以奉一兵。 至武宗即位，戶二百一十一萬四千九百六十。 會昌末，戶增至四百九十五萬五千一百五十一。
In late Qianyuan the empire reported 169 prefectures and 1,933,124 households, 1,174,592 non-taxable; and 16,990,386 persons, 14,619,587 non-taxable. This was 5,982,584 fewer households and 35,928,723 fewer persons than Tianbao. By Yuanhe only eight southeastern circuits—1,440,000 households—paid annual levies, a quarter of Tianbao levels. Government-fed troops reached 830,000, a third above Tianbao—two households per soldier. The capital northwest and Hebei, thick with garrisons, sent no central tribute. By Changqing, 3,350,000 households supported 990,000 soldiers—three households per soldier. At Wuzong's accession: 2,114,960 households. By late Huichang: 4,955,151 households.
33
宣宗既復河、湟，天下兩稅、榷酒茶鹽錢，歲入九百二十二萬緡，歲之常費率少三百餘萬，有司遠取後年乃濟。 及羣盜起，諸鎮不復上計云。
After Xuanzong recovered the northwest, annual revenue from two taxes and monopolies reached 9.22 million strings, yet routine spending still ran three million short—offices borrowed from future years. When widespread rebellion broke out, circuits ceased reporting accounts altogether.
34
校勘記0.85em|columns=2
Collation notes for this chapter.