My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 565 Control Valves
The size of Shanglin Garden is a mystery.

Beyond Chang'an, to the north lies the Wei River and the Wei Bridge, as well as the Weibei region on the opposite bank of the Wei River;
To the east is the Ba River and Ba Bridge, and the surrounding area known as 'Ba Shang';

To the south is the Altar of the State;
And to the west—from the west out of Chang'an, looking around, almost the entire area within a hundred miles belongs to the Shanglin Garden.

The Han Shanglin Garden was built on the site of the former royal garden of the Qin Dynasty.

However, unlike most royal gardens that were more for leisure and extravagance, the original intention of the Han dynasty in creating Shanglin Garden was not for the enjoyment of the royal family.

—Everyone in later generations knows that the Qin Dynasty perished either because of its harsh laws or because of the tyranny of its officials.

However, during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, the first emperor of the Han dynasty, and even several hundred years later, the fall of the Qin dynasty was universally attributed to the excessive cruelty inflicted on the people.

How can the people be harmed?

The Great Wall in the North, the Straight Road in the Central Plains, and the Five-Foot Road in the Southwest;

Immigrants from Lingnan, seeking immortals in the East China Sea, and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor at Mount Li.

Of course, there is also the Qin Epang Palace, an epic architectural project that is famous to later generations and embodies the concept of "large-scale construction".

In order to distinguish the Han dynasty from the tyrannical Qin dynasty, and also to prevent the Han dynasty from repeating the Qin dynasty's mistakes of extravagant construction projects, oppressing and exhausting the people, and indulging in luxury and pleasure, Emperor Gaozu rebuked Xiao He, the then prime minister, when the Changle and Weiyang palaces were completed.

Emperor Gao said: "The country is already in dire straits. Why does the Prime Minister do something like this, imitating the tyrannical Qin Dynasty and prioritizing appearances over substance, by building such a large-scale palace?"

Prime Minister Xiao replied: "Without magnificence, there is no way to project authority."

Considering that Prime Minister Xiao's words made sense, and that it was, after all, the imperial palace where the emperor resided, Emperor Taizu Gao finally reluctantly accepted the magnificent Chang Le and Wei Yang Palaces.

However, apart from that, all other projects that could be explained by the idea that "only the magnificent can convey authority" were explicitly rejected by Emperor Taizu Gao.

The most representative and important of them all is Shanglin Garden.

At that time, Emperor Taizu Gao's attitude was unusually firm in the face of the strong requests from inside and outside the court—especially from the Liu clan, who were members of the imperial family—to build a new royal garden.

We must not repeat the mistakes of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty!

Thus, the Han imperial garden, which should have been a newly selected site and a newly enclosed area, was transformed into the current Shanglin Garden, a patchwork of the former Qin imperial garden, under the frugal and simple principles of Emperor Gaozu.

Since it was 'remodeled' on the site of the former Qin Dynasty's forest garden, the original scale of the forest garden has naturally been basically completely preserved.

However, in terms of its specific use, Emperor Taizu firmly believed that the Shanglin Garden should not exist as a 'toy' solely for the emperor's enjoyment and amusement.

If that's the case, then Shanglin Garden shouldn't exist!
Thus, the first national macroeconomic control machine in Chinese history was born under the insistence of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozu, Shanglin Garden was truly just a name.

The original Qin royal gardens were preserved intact, some of the pleasure facilities with negative political implications were demolished, and the name was changed to "Shanglin Garden," and that would be the end of it.

As for its purpose—during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, the main purpose was to transform the unclaimed farmland of Shanglin Garden into royal official land belonging to the Han emperor, and to use it to settle the wounded and disabled soldiers among the founding heroes who had some military merit, but whose merit was not great enough to make them rise to prominence.

Later, gradually, Shanglin Garden became a regulator for the Han people in the process of resolving class contradictions such as land annexation.

Whenever bankrupt self-cultivating farmers appeared in the Guanzhong region—especially the greater Chang'an area—Shanglin Garden could absorb them as royal tenant farmers, giving them a chance to make a comeback by renting royal official land.

Don't underestimate this seemingly insignificant action!

In feudal times, land annexation was a persistent problem and old evil that no dynasty could avoid and was destined to perish from!
Any strategy that can curb land annexation is considered a "national pacification" policy in feudal times, something that can prolong the life of a feudal dynasty!

As for alleviating or even resolving the social class contradictions caused by land annexation, this has been a long-standing problem that has never been truly solved in China's thousands of years of feudal history.

Every feudal dynasty, due to land annexation, will lead to a cycle in which the poor become poorer and the rich become richer, resulting in an extremely uneven distribution of social resources. Ultimately, this leads to the poor, unable to survive, raising the banner of rebellion, while the rich remain aloof, welcoming the new dynasty with food and drink.

How did the cyclical pattern of dynasties lasting three hundred years come about?

—This is because during the feudal era, the Chinese people's tolerance for land annexation could not exceed three hundred years or twenty generations.

The general situation would be: at the time of the founding of the country, the turmoil of the recently ended 'dynastic change' led to a sharp decrease in the population of the country, and the land became sparsely populated.

Since there are more fields than people, class conflicts will not arise because of land.

The founding fathers and their cronies all rose to prominence;
If powerful and wealthy families survived until the founding of the nation, they too would experience a surge in their wealth.

As for the common people—even the most impoverished people, even those who have hidden away in the deep mountains and forests for years to escape war—as long as they can survive and emerge from the mountains, they can still obtain enough land resources to support their families.

The most typical example is, of course, the early days of the Han Dynasty, when Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang granted land titles to the people, which quickly brought stability to the country and restored agricultural production and life.

With such a precedent, later emperors generally followed suit, and whenever a new dynasty was founded, they would usually grant land and titles to the people in order to stabilize the hearts of the people.

As a result, the first three generations after the founding of the country enjoyed a good life with enough land to cultivate, even more land than they could cultivate, enough food to eat, and even extra money to wear clothes.

By the fourth generation, after forty or fifty years, the seeds of land annexation will sprout again.

Initially, it was highly unlikely that nobles would take the initiative to buy land from farmers.

Rather, it is because farmers have virtually no ability to withstand risks, and due to some unexpected event, they face bankruptcy and have no choice but to sell their land, which is their only valuable asset, to cope with the change.

For example, if both parents are seriously ill and need to seek medical treatment and medication;
For example, when both parents pass away, it is necessary to prepare for their funeral.

Given the existing population, there will always be farmers who struggle to make ends meet and have to sell their land to cope with unforeseen circumstances.

At times like these, things start to get complicated.

—The first time nobles and wealthy people heard that farmers were selling their land, their reaction would probably be: "Land?"

In this world, there are more fields than people, and more grain than ants, so who would lack land?
But soon, the talents buried deep in the soul and genes will awaken.

--yes!
—If everyone has enough land, then land isn't worth much!
—Let's go, take a look, and see if we can get it at a low price!
Thus, land consolidation began.

From initially acquiring goods at low prices, to later becoming increasingly unscrupulous in their exploitation and even plunder.

By the tenth generation, which was the middle of the dynasty and about 140 or 150 years after the founding of the country, most of the self-cultivating farmers who could be plundered would become tenant farmers of the aristocratic class.

What's interesting is that these tenant farmers are renting land that once belonged to them.

They could have cultivated their own land, only needing to set aside a portion of their harvest to pay taxes.

Apart from paying official taxes, they originally did not need to share the fruits of their labor with anyone else.

But now, it's still the same field, and they're still cultivating it;

They would have a portion, or even a large portion, of their harvested crops taken away without their consent, and they wouldn't even own the land anymore. They would also encounter the impatient words of landlords: "If you can't grow crops, then get out!"
If you don't plant it, plenty of others will!

During this period, which spans ten generations and 140 to 150 years since the founding of the nation, more than half of the self-cultivating farmers will become tenant farmers, or a combination of tenant and self-cultivating farmers.

As for the remaining half, they were either strong enough or lucky enough to preserve their family business and continue to exist as 'self-sufficient farmers';
Alternatively, they might collude with the nobility and become part of the new landlord class.

After four or five generations, by the end of the dynasty, self-cultivating farmers would become a rare commodity, and even tenant farmers would be a status that most people would envy.

Because at this time, many farmers, under the ruthless exploitation and bottomless oppression of the landlord class, will have no choice but to sell their children and become slaves.

At this point, social conflicts become exceptionally acute.

—In this world, there are only exploitative landlords and exploited tenant farmers and servants; there are almost no independent farmers as a 'buffer zone' between the two.

Without a buffer, the conflict between the two sides became increasingly acute.

The landlords complained that the tenant farmers weren't profitable and that they couldn't extract anything from them.

The tenant farmers complained that life wasn't good enough, and that the landlords were becoming increasingly ruthless.

Gradually, terms like "dog emperor" and "thieving heaven" will begin to appear among the tenant farmers.

When this flame of anger accumulates to a certain degree and is ignited at the right moment, a peasant uprising will inevitably break out.

This corrupt and decadent dynasty, which left self-sufficient farmers with no way to survive and no place to live, will eventually be shattered by the anger of farmers across the land.

Then a new dynasty was established, and a new cycle began...

Therefore, the three-hundred-year dynastic cycle does not mean that feudal dynasties set a three-hundred-year alarm clock, and that the dynasty would perish as soon as the alarm clock rang.

Rather, it is the time span of three hundred years or twenty generations, which is roughly the time it took for the landlord class in ancient China's feudal era to exploit and oppress the peasants to the point of breaking down.

This timeframe may vary—it could be several decades shorter or several decades longer;

However, the price will generally be cheaper by several decades or three or four generations, based on a benchmark of three hundred years or twenty generations.

As for the "divine retribution" of the Little Ice Age, that was indeed bad luck.

Having understood these points, it becomes clear when we examine the long-term plans that Emperor Taizu of Han (Liu Bang) left for the Han dynasty during his reign. It is not difficult to see that Emperor Taizu of Han, who rose from humble beginnings as a peasant emperor, accurately recognized this issue.

Liu Bang knew that the most crucial factor influencing the rise and fall of a dynasty was the class contradiction, primarily land annexation and secondarily class oppression!

Therefore, Liu Bang tried to do things with both hands and on both legs;

On one hand, there was the system of mausoleums and towns, which suppressed the power of local magnates and kept the "landlord" class firmly under control, preventing them from oppressing peasants or even having the opportunity to "become landlords."

On the other hand, given the farmers' almost non-existent ability to withstand risks, Liu Bang used the Shanglin Garden as a regulatory valve to do everything in his power to provide a safety net for the farmers at the bottom of society.

Without the Shanglinyuan as a regulating valve, no matter which dynasty or era, if self-cultivating farmers went bankrupt, they would only have one path to take.

Just like in the Han Dynasty today, every household was given 100 acres of farmland at the beginning of the dynasty, and became self-cultivating farmers;

As a result, a single accident forced this farmer to sell more than half of his land, leaving him with only forty or fifty acres, the output of which was far from enough to support his family.

Therefore, this family had no choice but to rent several dozen acres of land from others on top of their existing forty or fifty acres to supplement their family's output.

However, the situation will not take another unexpected turn that forces the farmer to sell the remaining forty or fifty acres of land.

—No second change is needed!

For self-sufficient farmers, once there is a sudden change, once they start renting other people's farmland, everything becomes irreversible.

Because a hundred acres is an indication of what a farming family can cultivate.

Originally, you cultivated your own hundred acres of land, and all the produce, except for taxes, belonged to you. Your whole family was just barely able to survive from hunger and cold.

Now, you only have forty or fifty acres of land that belong to you.

The remaining dozens of acres were rented from someone else.

Since it is a tenant's rental, there must be land rent.

This portion of the land rent will be 30%, 40%, or even 50% of the output of the land you rent.

This is very easy to calculate.

—If you have a hundred acres of land, and each acre yields three shi (a unit of dry measure), then you will get three hundred shi of grain.

After taxes, there will be more than 280 shi left, enough to keep your family from starving.

But now, you have fifty acres of land and get 150 shi of grain, but after deducting taxes, you only have a little over 140 shi left.
Although the rented fifty mu of land would yield 150 shi of grain, the rent would account for at least 50 shi.

—That's only if you're lucky and find a kind landlord who only charges you 30% rent.

If you encounter a dishonest person, they might demand 40%, 50%, or even 60% of your earnings, and you'll still have no choice but to give in.

In this way, even though you cultivated the same hundred acres of land, your family's annual output suddenly shrank from more than 280 shi to just over 200 shi.

In other words, for the same amount of work, you've had your pay cut by at least 20%.

For future generations, a 20% pay cut might only be a painful experience.

But for peasants in feudal times who were barely scraping by and might starve to death if they missed another meal, this 20% reduction in production was extremely fatal.

—Originally, you could eat two meals a day, each meal about 70% full. But without these dozens of bushels of grain, your whole family might have to eat three meals every two days, each meal only half full.

If a flood or locust plague occurs, resulting in reduced grain production, it could lead to the extinction of the entire family line!

Well, the problem is coming.

They could cultivate the same hundred acres of land, but only produce a little over two hundred bushels of grain, making it difficult for the family to even survive.
How to do?
You can only borrow it.

Borrow from relatives, borrow from neighbors;
But the people who can be your relatives or neighbors are unlikely to be very wealthy or powerful; their lives are probably not much better.

Ultimately, you will inevitably have to borrow from the landlord.

(End of this chapter)