1
唐都長安，而關中號稱沃野，然其土地狹，所出不足以給京師，備水旱，故常轉漕東南之粟。 高祖、太宗之時，用物有節而易贍，水陸漕運，歲不過二十萬石，故漕事簡。 自高宗已後，歲益增多，而功利繁興，民亦罹其弊矣。
The Tang made Chang'an its capital, and although Guanzhong was renowned as rich farmland, the region was too small to feed the court and buffer against famine and flood. The state therefore relied on regular canal shipments of grain from the southeast. Under Gaozu and Taizong, the court spent sparingly and provisions were ample. Combined water and land transport never exceeded two hundred thousand shi a year, so grain logistics remained straightforward. After Gaozong's reign the annual haul kept growing, while schemes for profit multiplied, and the people bore the cost.
2
初，江淮漕租米至東都輸含嘉倉，以車或馱陸運至陝。 而水行來遠，多風波覆溺之患，其失嘗十七八，故其率一斛得八斗為成勞。 而陸運至陝，纔三百里，率兩斛計傭錢千。 民送租者，皆有水陸之直，而河有三門底柱之險。 顯慶元年，苑西監褚朗議鑿三門山為梁，可通陸運。 乃發卒六千鑿之，功不成。 其後，將作大匠楊務廉又鑿為棧，以輓漕舟。 輓夫繫二鈲於胸，而繩多絕，輓夫輒墜死，則以逃亡報，因繫其父母妻子，人以為苦。
Initially, canal grain from the Jiang-Huai region was shipped to Luoyang and stored in the Hanjia Granary, then hauled overland by cart or pack train to Shanzhou. Water carriage covered long distances and was plagued by storms and sinkings; losses often ran to seven or eight parts in ten, so a full haul was reckoned when eight dou out of every hu actually arrived. Overland hauls to Shan covered only three hundred li, yet hire for every two hu cost a thousand cash. Those who delivered rent bore both water and land transport charges, and the Yellow River held the hazards of Sanmen Gorge and the Dizhu rocks. In Xianqing 1 (656), Chu Lang, overseer of the western imperial park, proposed cutting a beam road through Sanmen Mountain to open a land route. Six thousand laborers were drafted to cut the pass, but the project failed. Later Yang Wulian, chief artisan of the palace works directorate, cut a plank road instead to haul grain boats through. Haulers wore two iron hooks on their chests. Ropes snapped constantly; when men fell to their deaths the incident was logged as desertion, and their families were jailed. The practice was widely hated.
3
開元十八年，宣州刺史裴耀卿朝集京師，玄宗訪以漕事，耀卿條上便宜曰：「江南戶口多，而無征防之役。 然送租、庸、調物，以歲二月至揚州入斗門，四月已後，始渡淮入汴，常苦水淺，六七月乃至河口，而河水方漲，須八九月水落始得上河入洛，而漕路多梗，船檣阻隘。 江南之人，不習河事，轉雇河師水手，重為勞費。 其得行日少，阻滯日多。 今漢、隋漕路，瀕河倉廩，遺迹可尋。 可於河口置武牢倉，鞏縣置洛口倉，使江南之舟不入黃河，黃河之舟不入洛口。 而河陽、柏崖、太原、永豐、渭南諸倉，節級轉運，水通則舟行，水淺則寓於倉以待，則舟無停留，而物不耗失。 此甚利也。」 玄宗初不省。 二十一年，耀卿為京兆尹，京師雨水，穀踊貴，玄宗將幸東都，復問耀卿漕事，耀卿因請「罷陝陸運，而置倉河口，使江南漕舟至河口者，輸粟於倉而去，縣官雇舟以分入河、洛。 置倉三門東西，漕舟輸其東倉，而陸運以輸西倉，復以舟漕，以避三門之水險。」 玄宗以為然。 乃於河陰置河陰倉，河清置柏崖倉； 三門東置集津倉，西置鹽倉； 鑿山十八里以陸運。 自江、淮漕者，皆輸河陰倉，自河陰西至太原倉，謂之北運，自太原倉浮渭以實關中。 玄宗大悅，拜耀卿為黃門侍郎、同中書門下平章事，兼江淮都轉運使，以鄭州刺史崔希逸、河南少尹蕭炅為副使，益漕晉、絳、魏、濮、邢、貝、濟、博之租輸諸倉，轉而入渭。 凡三歲，漕七百萬石，省陸運傭錢三十萬緡。
In Kaiyuan 18 (730), Xuancheng prefect Pei Yaoji came to court for the annual assembly. Xuanzong asked his views on grain transport, and Yaoji submitted a detailed plan: 'Jiangnan is densely populated yet exempt from frontier garrison duty. Yet rent, corvée cloth, and diao goods had to reach Yangzhou's sluice by the second month, cross the Huai into the Bian only after the fourth, and often struggle through shallows until the sixth or seventh month to reach the Yellow River mouth—by which time the flood was rising. Not until the eighth or ninth month, when the water fell, could they move upriver into the Luo. The route was chronically blocked and convoys jammed the channel. Jiangnan crews were unused to river work and had to hire skilled pilots and sailors at great extra cost. Days under way were few; days stuck in port were many. The Han and Sui canal systems left riverside granaries whose sites can still be found. Build the Wulao Granary at the river mouth and the Luokou Granary in Gong County, so Jiangnan vessels stop at the mouth and Yellow River craft never push into the Luo junction. Relay through granaries at Heyang, Baiya, Taiyuan, Yongfeng, and Weinan: sail when the channel is full, store when it is low. Convoys would never idle long and spoilage would drop sharply. The savings would be enormous. Xuanzong at first paid little attention. In Kaiyuan 21 (733), now metropolitan governor of Jingzhao, Yaoji faced floods in the capital and soaring grain prices as Xuanzong prepared to move to Luoyang. Asked again about transport, he urged ending the Shan overland haul, building river-mouth granaries where Jiangnan convoys would unload and leave, and having the state hire boats to move grain into the Yellow River and Luo systems. Place granaries on both sides of Sanmen Gorge: boats unload at the east warehouse, porters carry overland to the west warehouse, then boats resume the river leg—bypassing Sanmen's rapids. Xuanzong agreed. The Heyin Granary was built at Heyin and the Baiya Granary at Heqing; east of Sanmen the Jijin Granary and west of it the Yan Granary; and an eighteen-li mountain road was cut for the overland relay. Jiang-Huai grain all went to Heyin; the leg from Heyin west to Taiyuan was called the Northern Route, and from Taiyuan boats sailed the Wei to supply Guanzhong. Delighted, Xuanzong made Yaoji vice director of the Huangmen and chief minister, with overall charge of Jiang-Huai transport; Cui Xiyi and Xiao Jiong served as deputies. Rent from eight more prefectures was added to the relay into the Wei. Within three years seven million shi moved by water, saving three hundred thousand strings in overland hire.
4
是時，民久不罹兵革，物力豐富，朝廷用度亦廣，不計道里之費，而民之輸送所出水陸之直，增以「函脚」、「營窖」之名，民間傳言用斗錢運斗米，其糜耗如此。
Peace had enriched the realm and swollen court spending. Beyond legitimate transport fees, levies multiplied under labels like 'crate-foot' and 'granary upkeep.' People said it cost a coin's worth of cash to move a coin's worth of grain—such was the waste.
5
及耀卿罷相，北運頗艱，米歲至京師纔百萬石。 二十五年，遂罷北運。 而崔希逸為河南陝運使，歲運百八十萬石。 其後以太倉積粟有餘，歲減漕數十萬石。
After Yaoji left office the northern route faltered; only a million shi a year reached the capital. In Kaiyuan 25 (737) the northern route was abandoned. Cui Xiyi, as Henan-Shan transport commissioner, moved 1.8 million shi annually. Later, with the Great Granary overflowing, the annual quota was trimmed by hundreds of thousands of shi.
6
二十九年，陝郡太守李齊物鑿砥柱為門以通漕，開其山顛為輓路，燒石沃醯而鑿之。 然棄石入河，激水益湍怒，舟不能入新門，候其水漲，以人輓舟而上。 天子疑之，遣宦者按視，齊物厚賂使者，還言便。
In Kaiyuan 29 (741), Shan prefect Li Qiwu cut a gate through the Dizhu rocks for grain boats, blasted a haul road along the ridge by heating stone and dousing it with vinegar. Rubble dumped in the channel only made the current fiercer. Boats could not use the new gate until the flood rose, when teams hauled them through. The emperor had doubts and sent eunuch inspectors; Qiwu bribed them heavily, and they reported the project sound.
7
齊物入為鴻臚卿，以長安令韋堅代之，兼水陸運使。 堅治漢、隋運渠，起關門，抵長安，通山東租賦。 乃絕灞、滻，並渭而東，至永豐倉與渭合。 又於長樂坡瀕苑牆鑿潭於望春樓下，以聚漕舟。 堅因使諸舟各揭其郡名，陳其土地所產寶貨諸奇物於栿上。 先時民間唱俚歌曰「得体紇那邪」。 其後得寶符於桃林，於是陝縣尉崔成甫更得体歌為得寶弘農野。 堅命舟人為吳、楚服，大笠、廣袖、芒屩以歌之。 成甫又廣之為歌辭十闋，自衣缺後綠衣、錦半臂、紅抹額，立第一船為號頭以唱，集兩縣婦女百餘人，鮮服靚粧，鳴鼓吹笛以和之。 眾艘以次輳樓下，天子望見大悅，賜其潭名曰廣運潭。 是歲，漕山東粟四百萬石。 自裴耀卿言漕事，進用者常兼轉運之職，而韋堅為最。
Qiwu was promoted to minister of ceremonial; Wei Jian, magistrate of Chang'an, replaced him as combined water-and-land transport commissioner. Wei Jian restored the Han and Sui canals from Tong Pass to Chang'an to bring Shandong grain and taxes to the capital. He diverted the Ba and Chan, ran the channel east along the Wei to the Yongfeng Granary, and rejoined the main Wei. Below Wangchun Tower on Changle Slope he excavated a basin beside the imperial park wall to berth the grain fleet. Each vessel flew its home commandery's name and displayed local treasures and curios on deck beams. Earlier folk had sung a ditty: 'Deti he na ye.' When a treasure talisman was found at Taolin, Shan county aide Cui Chengfu rewrote the refrain as 'Treasure found in the Hongnong wilds.' Jian dressed the boatmen in Wu-Chu costume—wide hats, flowing sleeves, straw sandals—to perform the song. Chengfu expanded it to ten stanzas, stood on the lead boat in green robe, brocade half-sleeves, and red forehead cloth to lead the chorus, and assembled over a hundred women from two counties in bright dress with drums, pipes, and flutes. The flotilla moored in turn below the tower. The emperor was delighted and named the basin Guangyun, 'Broad Transport.' That year four million shi of Shandong grain reached the capital by water. After Pei Yaoji's reforms, favored officials usually held transport portfolios as well; Wei Jian stood at the peak.
8
初，耀卿興漕路，請罷陸運，而不果廢。 自景雲中，陸運北路分八遞，雇民車牛以載。 開元初，河南尹李傑為水陸運使，運米歲二百五十萬石，而八遞用車千八百乘。 耀卿罷久之，河南尹裴迥以八遞傷牛，乃為交場兩遞，濱水處為宿場，分官總之，自龍門東山抵天津橋為石堰以遏水。 其後大盜起，而天下匱矣。
When Yaoji opened the new water route he had sought to end overland hauls, but the land leg survived. From the Jingyun period the northern overland route used eight relay stages with hired civilian carts and oxen. Early in Kaiyuan, Henan governor Li Jie as transport commissioner moved 2.5 million shi a year; the eight relays alone required 1,800 carts. Years after Yaoji left office, Henan governor Pei Jiong cut the eight relays to two exchange points with riverside depots and official overseers, and built stone weirs from east of Longmen to Tianjin Bridge to tame the current. Then major rebellions broke out and the empire was drained.
9
肅宗末年，史朝義兵分出宋州，淮運於是阻絕，租庸鹽鐵泝漢江而上。 河南尹劉晏為戶部侍郎，兼句當度支、轉運、鹽鐵、鑄錢使，江淮粟帛，繇襄、漢越商於以輸京師。
Late in Suzong's reign Shi Chaoyi's forces swept out of Songzhou and severed the Huai route; rent, corvée goods, salt, and iron had to go up the Han instead. Henan governor Liu Yan, as vice minister of revenue, also ran finance, transport, salt and iron, and minting. Jiang-Huai grain and cloth reached the capital via the Xiang-Han corridor and the Shangyu road.
10
及代宗出陝州，關中空窘，於是盛轉輸以給用。 廣德二年，廢句當度支使，以劉晏顓領東都、河南、淮西、江南東西轉運、租庸、鑄錢、鹽鐵，轉輸至上都，度支所領諸道租庸觀察使，凡漕事亦皆決於晏。 晏即鹽利顧傭分吏督之，隨江、汴、河、渭所宜。 故時轉運船繇潤州陸運至揚子，斗米費錢十九，晏命囊米而載以舟，減錢十五； 繇揚州距河陰，斗米費錢百二十，晏為歇艎支江船二千艘，每船受千斛，十船為綱，每綱三百人，篙工五十，自揚州遣將部送至河陰，上三門，號「上門填闕船」，米斗減錢九十。 調巴、蜀、襄、漢麻枲竹篠為綯挽舟，以朽索腐材代薪，物無棄者。 未十年，人人習河險。 江船不入汴，汴船不入河，河船不入渭； 江南之運積揚州，汴河之運積河陰，河船之運積渭口，渭船之運入太倉。 歲轉粟百一十萬石，無升斗溺者。 輕貨自揚子至汴州，每馱費錢二千二百，減九百，歲省十餘萬緡。 又分官吏主丹楊湖，禁引溉，自是河漕不涸。 大曆八年，以關內豐穰，減漕十萬石，度支和糴以優農。 晏自天寶末掌出納，監歲運，知左右藏，主財穀三十餘年矣。 及楊炎為相，以舊惡罷晏，轉運使復歸度支，凡江淮漕米，以庫部郎中崔河圖主之。
When Daizong escaped through Shanzhou, Guanzhong was destitute and transport was massively expanded to feed the court. In Guangde 2 (764) the revenue-handler post was abolished and Liu Yan took sole charge of transport, rent and yong, minting, and salt and iron from Luoyang through Henan, Huaixi, and both Jiangnans to the capital. Every circuit tax commissioner answered to him on grain logistics. He funded hired crews from salt profits and posted officers along the Yangtze, Bian, Yellow River, and Wei as each stretch required. Previously grain went overland from Runzhou to Yangzi at nineteen cash per dou; Yan switched to bagged rice by boat and cut fifteen cash; from Yangzhou to Heyin the cost had been 120 cash per dou. Yan fielded two thousand river barges of a thousand hu each, grouped in convoys of ten with three hundred men and fifty polemen, escorted by officers to Heyin and through Sanmen as 'gap-filling upper-gate ships,' cutting ninety cash per dou. Hemp, bamboo, and rushes from the southwest became tow ropes; rotten cord and scrap wood replaced fuel—nothing was wasted. Within a decade crews mastered the river hazards. Yangtze craft stopped at the Bian junction, Bian craft at the Yellow River, Yellow River craft at the Wei; Jiangnan freight piled up at Yangzhou, Bian freight at Heyin, Yellow River freight at the Wei mouth, and Wei boats fed the Great Granary. Annual deliveries reached 1.1 million shi without a single bushel lost to the river. Light cargo from Yangzi to Bianzhou had cost 2,200 cash per pack; Yan cut 900 and saved over 100,000 strings a year. Officials guarded Danyang Lake and banned irrigation diversions, keeping the canal full thereafter. In Dali 8 (773), with Guanzhong harvests rich, the quota was cut by 100,000 shi and the treasury bought grain at fair rates to aid farmers. Since the late Tianbao era Yan had run receipts, annual transport, and both treasuries—more than thirty years at the fiscal helm. When Yang Yan became chancellor he removed Yan over old grudges. Transport reverted to the revenue office, and Jiang-Huai grain fell to Cui Hetu of the storehouse bureau.
11
及田悅、李惟岳、李納、梁崇義拒命，舉天下兵討之，諸軍仰給京師。 而李納、田悅兵守渦口，梁崇義搤襄、鄧，南北漕引皆絕，京師大恐。 江淮水陸轉運使杜佑以秦、漢運路出浚儀十里入琵琶溝，絕蔡河，至陳州而合，自隋鑿汴河，官漕不通，若導流培岸，功用甚寡； 疏雞鳴岡首尾，可以通舟，陸行纔四十里，則江、湖、黔中、嶺南、蜀、漢之粟可方舟而下，繇白沙趣東關，歷潁、蔡，涉汴抵東都，無濁河泝淮之阻，減故道二千餘里。 會李納將李洧以徐州歸命，淮路通而止。 戶部侍郎趙贊又以錢貨出淮迂緩，分置汴州東西水陸運兩稅鹽鐵使，以度支總大綱。
When Tian Yue, Li Weiyue, Li Na, and Liang Chongyi rebelled, imperial armies marched on them and looked to the capital for every ration. Li Na and Tian Yue held Wokou; Liang Chongyi blocked Xiang and Deng. North and south supply lines collapsed and the capital panicked. Transport commissioner Du You argued that the Qin-Han route left Junyi, entered Pipa Ditch, crossed the Cai, and met at Chenzhou—a path abandoned since the Sui cut the Bian. Reopening it by modest dredging and bank work would be cheap; clear Jiming Hill at both ends for boats with only forty li of portage, and grain from the Yangtze lakes, Qianzhong, Lingnan, Shu, and Han could sail in convoys via Baisha to Dongguan, through Ying and Cai, across the Bian to Luoyang—avoiding the muddy Huai-Yellow River stretch and saving more than two thousand li. But Li Na's general Li Xu surrendered Xuzhou, the Huai route reopened, and the project was dropped. Vice Minister Zhao Zan, finding Huai exports of cash and goods too slow, split eastern and western Bianzhou transport and dual-tax salt-and-iron offices under overall revenue control.
12
貞元初，關輔宿兵，米斗千錢，太倉供天子六宮之膳不及十日，禁中不能釀酒，以飛龍駝負永豐倉米給禁軍，陸運牛死殆盡。 德宗以給事中崔造敢言，為能立事，用為相。 造以江、吳素嫉錢穀諸使顓利罔上，乃奏諸道觀察使、刺史選官部送兩稅至京師，廢諸道水陸轉運使及度支巡院、江淮轉運使，以度支、鹽鐵歸尚書省，宰相分判六尚書事。 以戶部侍郎元琇判諸道鹽鐵、榷酒，侍郎吉中孚判度支諸道兩稅。 增江淮之運，浙江東、西歲運米七十五萬石，復以兩稅易米百萬石，江西、湖南、鄂岳、福建、嶺南米亦百二十萬石，詔浙江東、西節度使韓滉，淮南節度使杜亞運至東、西渭橋倉。 諸道有鹽鐵處，復置巡院。 歲終宰相計課最。 崔造厚元琇，而韓滉方領轉運，奏國漕不可改。 帝亦雅器滉，復以為江淮轉運使。 元琇嫉其剛，不可共事，因有隙。 琇稱疾罷，而滉為度支、諸道鹽鐵、轉運使，於是崔造亦罷。 滉遂劾琇常餫米淄青、河中，而李納、懷光倚以構叛，貶琇雷州司戶參軍，尋賜死。
Early in Zhenyuan (785), with troops garrisoning Guanzhong, rice hit a thousand cash per dou. The Great Granary could feed court and harem less than ten days. The palace could not brew wine. Imperial camels hauled Yongfeng grain to the guards while overland oxen died off. Dezong made Supervising Secretary Cui Zao chancellor for his blunt counsel and reputation for action. Zao, reflecting Jiang-Wu hatred of profit-grabbing finance commissioners, urged circuit governors to send the dual tax through chosen officials, abolished transport commissioners and revenue patrols, restored revenue and salt and iron to the Ministry of Revenue, and had chancellors divide the six ministries among themselves. Vice Minister Yuan Xiu took salt, iron, and wine monopoly; Vice Minister Ji Zhongfu took revenue and the dual tax. Jiang-Huai shipments rose: eastern and western Zhejiang moved 750,000 shi yearly, another million shi bought with dual-tax revenue, and Jiangxi, Hunan, E'yue, Fujian, and Lingnan added 1.2 million shi. Han Huang and Du Ya were ordered to deliver to the eastern and western Wei Bridge granaries. Patrol offices were restored wherever circuits produced salt or iron. At year-end chancellors graded each other's performance. Zao favored Yuan Xiu, but Han Huang still ran transport and argued that national grain logistics must not be dismantled. The emperor respected Huang and reappointed him Jiang-Huai transport commissioner. Yuan Xiu resented Huang's harsh manner; they could not cooperate and a feud opened. Xiu resigned on grounds of illness. Huang took revenue, salt and iron, and transport; Zao fell soon after. Huang accused Xiu of feeding Ziqing and Hezhong—supplies Li Na and Zhu Ci's general Huai Guang used to rebel. Xiu was banished to Leizhou as registrar and soon ordered to take his own life.
13
是時，汴宋節度使春夏遣官監汴水，察盜灌溉者。 歲漕經底柱，覆者幾半。 河中有山號「米堆」，運舟入三門，雇平陸人為門匠，執標指麾，一舟百日乃能上。 諺曰：「古無門匠墓。」 謂皆溺死也。 陝虢觀察使李泌益鑿集津倉山西逕為運道，屬于三門倉，治上路以回空車，費錢五萬緡，下路減半； 又為入渭船，方五板，輸東渭橋太倉米至凡百三十萬石，遂罷南路陸運。 其後諸道鹽鐵、轉運使張滂復置江淮巡院。 及浙西觀察使李錡領使，江淮堰埭隸浙西者，增私路小堰之稅，以副使潘孟陽主上都留後。 李巽為諸道轉運、鹽鐵使，以堰埭歸鹽鐵使，罷其增置者。 自劉晏後，江淮米至渭橋寖減矣，至巽乃復如晏之多。
Each spring and summer the Bian-Song commissioner posted officers on the Bian Canal to catch illegal irrigation diversions. Each year's convoys through the Dizhu rocks lost nearly half their boats. A mid-river peak was called 'Rice Mound.' Boats entering Sanmen hired Pinglu pilots called 'gate craftsmen' to signal the way; a single vessel might need a hundred days to get through. A proverb ran: 'Since antiquity there have been no gate craftsmen's graves. —because they all drowned. Shan-Guo commissioner Li Bi cut a haul road west of Jijin Granary linked to Sanmen, rebuilt the upper track for empty carts at fifty thousand strings and the lower at half that; and built five-plank Wei barges that moved 1.3 million shi from the Eastern Wei Bridge granary, ending the southern overland haul. Later circuit transport commissioner Zhang Pang restored the Jiang-Huai patrol office. When Zhexi commissioner Li Qi took charge, he taxed private roads and small weirs on Jiang-Huai works under Zhexi; deputy Pan Mengyang ran the capital liaison office. Li Xun as circuit transport and salt-and-iron commissioner returned the dams to salt-and-iron control and abolished Li Qi's extra taxes. After Liu Yan, Jiang-Huai grain to Wei Bridge had steadily fallen; under Li Xun it recovered to Yan's levels.
14
初，揚州疏太子港、陳登塘，凡三十四陂，以益漕河，輒復堙塞。 淮南節度使杜亞乃濬渠蜀岡，疏句城湖、愛敬陂，起隄貫城，以通大舟。 河益庳，水下走淮，夏則舟不得前。 節度使李吉甫築平津堰，以洩有餘，防不足，漕流遂通。 然漕益少，江淮米至渭橋者纔二十萬斛。 諸道鹽鐵、轉運使盧坦糴以備一歲之費，省冗職八十員。 自江以南，補署皆剸屬院監，而漕米亡耗於路頗多。 刑部侍郎王播代坦，建議米至渭橋五百石亡五十石者死。 其後判度支皇甫鎛議萬斛亡三百斛者償之，千七百斛者流塞下，過者死； 盜十斛者流，三十斛者死。 而覆船敗輓，至者不得十之四五。 部吏舟人相挾為姦，榜笞號苦之聲聞于道路，禁錮連歲，赦下而獄死者不可勝數。 其後貸死刑，流天德五城，人不畏法，運米至者十亡七八。 鹽鐵、轉運使柳公綽請如王播議加重刑。 大和初，歲旱河涸，掊沙而進，米多耗，抵死甚眾，不待覆奏。
Yangzhou had dredged Taizi Harbor, Chen Deng Pond, and thirty-four other reservoirs to feed the canal, but they kept silting shut again. Huainan commissioner Du Ya dredged the Shugang channel, opened Jucheng Lake and Aijing Reservoir, and built dikes through the city so large vessels could pass. The channel sank lower as water drained toward the Huai; in summer boats could not move upstream. Commissioner Li Jifu built the Pingjin Weir to spill excess water and hold back shortages, and the grain route opened again. Yet shipments kept shrinking; only two hundred thousand hu of Jiang-Huai rice reached Wei Bridge. Circuit commissioner Lu Tan bought grain for a year's reserve and eliminated eighty redundant posts. South of the Yangtze every post answered to the patrol bureaus, and grain losses in transit were heavy. Wang Bo of the Ministry of Justice replaced Tan and proposed death for anyone losing fifty shi out of every five hundred delivered to Wei Bridge. Later revenue chief Huangfu Bo ruled: losses of three hundred hu per ten thousand required repayment; 1,700 hu meant exile to the northern frontier; beyond that, death; theft of ten hu meant exile, thirty hu meant death. Yet with sinkings and wrecked hauls, arrivals often fell below forty or fifty percent. Clerks and boatmen colluded in fraud. Flogging and cries of pain echoed along the routes. Men languished in prison for years; even after amnesties, the dead in custody were beyond count. Death sentences were later commuted to exile in the northern frontier towns. With no fear of the law, seven or eight parts in ten of shipped grain never arrived. Transport commissioner Liu Gongchuo asked to restore Wang Bo's harsher penalties. Early in the Dahe era drought emptied the rivers. Convoys dug through sand to advance, grain spoiled, and many were executed on the spot without awaiting imperial review.
15
奏、漢時故漕興成堰，東達永豐倉，咸陽縣令韓遼請疏之，自咸陽抵潼關三百里，可以罷車輓之勞。 宰相李固言以為非時，文宗曰：「苟利於人，陰陽拘忌，非朕所顧也。」 議遂決。 堰成，罷輓車之牛以供農耕，關中賴其利。
The Qin-Han canal's Xingcheng Weir once reached the Yongfeng Granary. Xianyang magistrate Han Liao proposed dredging the three-hundred-li stretch from Xianyang to Tong Pass to end cart haulage. Chancellor Li Guyin said the timing was wrong. Wenzong replied: 'If it helps the people, I do not care about yin-yang taboos. The project was approved. When the weir was finished, haul oxen returned to the fields and Guanzhong benefited.
16
故事，州縣官充綱，送輕貨四萬，書上考。 開成初，為長定綱，州擇清彊官送兩稅，至十萬遷一官，往來十年者授縣令。 江淮錢積河陰，轉輸歲費十七萬餘緡，行綱多以盜抵死。 判度支王彥威置縣遞羣畜萬三千三百乘，使路傍民養以取傭，日役一驛，省費甚博。 而宰相亦以長定綱命官不以材，江淮大州，歲授官者十餘人，乃罷長定綱，送五萬者書上考，七萬者減一選，五十萬減三選而已。 及戶部侍郎裴休為使，以河瀕縣令董漕事，自江達渭，運米四十萬石。 居三歲，米至渭橋百二十萬石。
By precedent county officials led transport gangs; delivering forty thousand in light goods earned top marks. Early in Kaicheng the 'long-fixed gang' system chose tough officials to deliver the dual tax: one promotion per hundred thousand delivered, and ten years of round trips earned a county magistracy. Jiang-Huai cash piled up at Heyin. Transport cost over 170,000 strings a year, and many gang leaders were executed for theft. Revenue chief Wang Yanwei fielded 13,300 relay teams raised by roadside households for hire, one post station per day, cutting costs sharply. Chancellors complained the long-fixed gang promoted unqualified men—over ten appointments yearly in major Jiang-Huai prefectures. The system was scrapped: fifty thousand earned top marks, seventy thousand cut one promotion cycle, five hundred thousand cut three. When Vice Minister Pei Xiu took charge, riverside magistrates oversaw transport from the Yangtze to the Wei—four hundred thousand shi of rice. Within three years deliveries to Wei Bridge reached 1.2 million shi.
17
凡漕達于京師而足國用者，大略如此。 其他州、縣、方鎮，漕以自資，或兵所征行，轉運以給一時之用者，皆不足紀。
Such, in broad outline, was how canal grain reached the capital and met state needs. Local transport for prefectures, counties, and garrisons, or ad hoc military supply runs, need not be recorded here.
18
唐開軍府以扞要衝，因隙地置營田，天下屯總九百九十二。 司農寺每屯三十頃，州、鎮諸軍每屯五十頃。 水陸腴瘠、播殖地宜與其功庸煩省、收率之多少，皆決於尚書省。 苑內屯以善農者為屯官、屯副，御史巡行莅輸。 上地五十畝，瘠地二十畝，稻田八十畝，則給牛一。 諸屯以地良薄與歲之豐凶為三等，具民田歲穫多少，取中熟為率。 有警，則以兵若夫千人助收。 隸司農者，歲三月，卿、少卿循行，治不法者。 凡屯田收多者，褒進之。 歲以仲春籍來歲頃畝、州府軍鎮之遠近，上兵部，度便宜遣之。 開元二十五年，詔屯官敍功以歲豐凶為上下。 鎮戍地可耕者，人給十畝以供糧。 方春，屯官巡行，讁作不時者。 天下屯田收穀百九十餘萬斛。
The Tang posted military prefectures on key passes and opened garrison farms on spare land—992 farms nationwide. Directorate of Agriculture farms held thirty qing each; prefectural and garrison farms fifty qing each. Soil quality, crop choice, labor costs, and expected yields were all set by the Department of State Affairs. Imperial park farms appointed skilled farmers as officers and deputies; censors inspected deliveries on circuit. One ox was allotted per fifty mu of good land, twenty mu of poor land, or eighty mu of paddy. Farms were graded in three tiers by soil and harvest conditions, using civilian yields and the average good year as the benchmark. In emergencies a thousand soldiers or laborers were drafted to help harvest. Each third month the agriculture director and deputy toured farms under their charge and punished violations. High-yield farms earned praise and promotion for their officers. Each mid-spring they registered next year's acreage and distances to posts, reported to the Ministry of War, and deployed men as needed. In Kaiyuan 25 (737) an edict tied farm officers' merit ratings to whether the harvest was good or poor. Where garrison land could be farmed, each soldier received ten mu for his rations. Each spring farm officers toured the fields and punished untimely work. Nationwide garrison farms harvested over 1.9 million hu of grain.
19
初，度支歲市糧於北都，以贍振武、天德、靈武、鹽、夏之軍，費錢五六十萬緡，泝河舟溺甚眾。 建中初，宰相楊炎請置屯田於豐州，發關輔民鑿陵陽渠以增溉。 京兆尹嚴郢嘗從事朔方，知其利害，以為不便，疏奏不報。 郢又奏：「五城舊屯，其數至廣，以開渠之糧貸諸城，約以冬輸； 又以開渠功直布帛先給田者，據估轉穀。 如此則關輔免調發，五城田闢，比之浚渠利十倍也。」 時楊炎方用事，郢議不用，而陵陽渠亦不成。 然振武、天德良田，廣袤千里。
Initially the treasury bought grain yearly at Taiyuan to feed armies at Zhenwu, Tiande, Lingwu, Yan, and Xia—five or six hundred thousand strings—and many boats were lost going upriver. Early in Jianzhong (780), Chancellor Yang Yan proposed garrison farms at Fengzhou and drafting Guanfu laborers to dig the Lingyang Canal for irrigation. Jingzhao governor Yan Ying, who had served in Shuofang and knew the region, opposed the plan in a memorial that went unanswered. Ying memorialized again: 'The old Five Cities garrison farms are vast. Lend canal-opening grain to those posts for winter delivery; pay canal workers in cloth and silk upfront, then convert the value into grain deliveries. Guanfu would be spared levies, the Five Cities farms expanded, and the gain would be ten times that of digging the canal. Yang Yan was in power; Yan's plan was rejected and the Lingyang Canal was never finished. Yet Zhenwu and Tiande still held rich farmland stretching a thousand li.
20
元和中，振武軍饑，宰相李絳請開營田，可省度支漕運及絕和糴欺隱。 憲宗稱善，乃以韓重華為振武、京西營田、和糴、水運使，起代北，墾田三百頃，出贓罪吏九百餘人，給以耒耜、耕牛，假種糧，使償所負粟，二歲大熟。 因募人為十五屯，每屯百三十人，人耕百畝，就高為堡，東起振武，西逾雲州，極於中受降城，凡六百餘里，列柵二十，墾田三千八百餘頃，歲收粟二十萬石，省度支錢二千餘萬緡。 重華入朝，奏請益開田五千頃，法用人七千，可以盡給五城。 會李絳已罷，後宰相持其議而止。 憲宗末，天下營田皆雇民或借庸以耕，又以瘠地易上地，民間苦之。 穆宗即位，詔還所易地，而耕以官兵。 耕官地者，給三之一以終身。
During Yuanhe (806–820) the Zhenwu army went hungry. Chancellor Li Jiang urged garrison farming to cut treasury transport costs and end hedi purchase fraud. Xianzong approved and made Han Chonghua commissioner for Zhenwu and Jingxi garrison farms, hedi purchases, and water transport. North of Dai he opened three hundred qing, released over nine hundred corrupt officials, gave them tools and oxen and seed on loan to repay debts, and reaped a great harvest within two years. He raised fifteen farms of 130 men each, a hundred mu per man, with hilltop forts from Zhenwu west past Yunzhou to the Middle Accepted-Submission City—over six hundred li, twenty palisades, 3,800 qing under cultivation, 200,000 shi harvested yearly, saving the treasury over twenty million strings. At court Chonghua asked to open another five thousand qing with seven thousand men, enough to supply all Five Cities garrisons. Li Jiang had already left office; later chancellors shelved the plan. Late in Xianzong's reign garrison farms hired civilians or borrowed corvée labor and swapped poor plots for good ones—the people suffered. Muzong ordered the swapped land returned and put garrison farms back under military labor. Those who farmed official land received one-third of the yield for life.
21
靈武、邠寧，土廣肥而民不知耕。 大和末，王起奏立營田。 後党項大擾河西，邠寧節度使畢諴亦募士開營田，歲收三十萬斛，省度支錢數百萬緡。
Lingwu and Binning had vast fertile soil that locals did not farm. Late in Dahe (835), Wang Qi memorialized to establish garrison farms. When Tanguts ravaged Hexi, Binning commissioner Bi Tan recruited men for garrison farms, harvesting three hundred thousand hu a year and saving the treasury millions of strings.
22
貞觀、開元後，邊土西舉高昌、龜茲、焉耆、小勃律，北抵薛延陀故地，緣邊數十州戍重兵，營田及地租不足以供軍，於是初有和糴。 牛仙客為相，有彭果者獻策廣關輔之糴，京師糧稟益羨，自是玄宗不復幸東都。 天寶中，歲以錢六十萬緡賦諸道和糴，斗增三錢，每歲短遞輸京倉者百餘萬斛。 米賤則少府加估而糴，貴則賤價而糶。
After Zhenguan and Kaiyuan the frontier stretched west to Gaochang, Kucha, Yanqi, and Little Bolü and north to the Xueyantuo lands. Dozens of border prefectures held large garrisons. When farms and land tax could not feed the troops, the state began hedi grain purchases. Under Chancellor Niu Xianke, Peng Guo proposed expanding Guanfu grain purchases. Capital stores overflowed, and Xuanzong never again visited Luoyang. In the Tianbao era (742–756) circuits paid six hundred thousand strings yearly for hedi purchases with a three-cash premium per dou; over a million hu reached capital granaries each year. When rice was cheap the Court of the Imperial Treasury bought at a premium; when dear it sold at reduced prices.
23
貞元初，吐蕃劫盟，召諸道兵十七萬戍邊。 關中為吐蕃蹂躪者二十年矣，北至河曲，人戶無幾，諸道戍兵月給粟十七萬斛，皆糴於關中。 宰相陸贄以「關中穀賤，請和糴，可至百餘萬斛。 計諸縣船車至太倉，穀價四十有餘，米價七十，則一年和糴之數當轉運之二年，一斗轉運之資當和糴之五斗。 減轉運以實邊，存轉運以備時要。 江淮米至河陰者罷八十萬斛，河陰米至太原倉者罷五十萬，太原米至東渭橋者罷二十萬。 以所減米糶江淮水菑州縣，斗減時五十以救乏。 京城東渭橋之糴，斗增時三十以利農。 以江淮糶米及減運直市絹帛送上都。」 帝乃命度支增估糴粟三十三萬斛，然不能盡用贄議。 憲宗即位之初，有司以歲豐熟，請畿內和糴。 當時府、縣配戶督限，有稽違則迫蹙鞭撻，甚於稅賦，號為和糴，其實害民。
Early in Zhenyuan (785) Tibetans broke the peace treaty and 170,000 troops from all circuits were posted to the frontier. Guanzhong had been ravaged by Tibetans for twenty years. North to the river bend few households remained. Frontier garrisons needed 170,000 hu of grain monthly, all bought in Guanzhong. Chancellor Lu Zhi argued: 'Guanzhong grain is cheap. Hedi purchases could reach over a million hu. Boat and cart delivery from the counties to the Great Granary costs over forty for grain and seventy for rice. One year of hedi buying equals two years of canal transport; one dou moved by canal costs what five dou cost by hedi purchase. Cut transport to stock the frontier, but keep enough transport for emergencies. Cut Jiang-Huai grain to Heyin by 800,000 hu, Heyin to Taiyuan by 500,000, and Taiyuan to Eastern Wei Bridge by 200,000. Sell the saved grain in flood-hit Jiang-Huai counties at fifty cash below market to relieve distress. At the capital's Eastern Wei Bridge, pay thirty cash above market per dou to benefit farmers. Use proceeds from Jiang-Huai grain sales and transport savings to buy silk for the capital. The emperor ordered the treasury to buy an extra 330,000 hu at premium prices but did not adopt Zhi's full plan. Early in Xianzong's reign, with a bumper harvest, officials proposed hedi purchases in the capital region. Prefectures and counties assigned household quotas and beat those who fell behind—worse than taxation. It was called hedi purchase, but it harmed the people.
24
校勘記0.85em|columns=2
Collation notes for this chapter.