History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 519 Natural and man-made disasters
Except for antiques and cultural relics of special political significance, other things belong to whoever dug them out. For example, these gold cakes belong to the discoverer, Comrade Wang Wu. The imperial court will not forcibly collect them, nor will it allow local governments to forcibly collect them. The private property of the people will be fully protected.

In September of the same year, an imperial decree was issued that from now on, all thieves should be convicted according to the law and their property should not be confiscated at will. Good governance benefits the people and also benefits prisoners.

At the end of the same year, heavy snow lasted for nearly two months, and Luoyang City became a city of ice and snow. Shi Jingtang looked at the white world, and had no mood to appreciate the snow scenery, let alone compose poems. He said to his ministers with a worried look on his face: "The heavy snow has harmed the people, and it has not stopped for fifty days. I have ordered all the temples in the capital to pray for clear weather, but it has not worked. Is it because I am not virtuous enough, and God wants to punish me?"

The ministers around him tried to comfort him, "Your Majesty is wise, and we deserve to die."

When a natural disaster occurred, the emperor would pray to the gods. If that didn't work, he would issue a self-criticism edict, sincerely confess his sins to the gods, and pray that the gods would punish only him and not implicate innocent people. Zhu Youzhen did this.

Now, facing the snow disaster, Shi Jingtang also expressed the same sentiment, thinking that he had not done well enough and caused the people to suffer.

Therefore, Shi Jingtang ordered the distribution of firewood, charcoal, food, etc. to the imperial guards and the poor people in the capital to help them tide over the difficulties.

A few days later, on the first day of the first lunar month in the fifth year of Tianfu (940), Shi Jingtang issued an order to write off all public and private debts before the third year of Tianfu.

In April, he ordered Luoyang, Chang'an and other cities to stop paying tribute of melons and fruits, "out of sympathy for the hard-working people."

In February of the sixth year of Tianfu (941), the salaries of the imperial guards were collectively raised. The salary of officers at the rank of general was originally 2 coins per month, but now it was increased to coins.
In March, an imperial decree was issued to exempt all summer and autumn rents owed by the people before last year;
In April, famine broke out in today's Shandong Province, and the emperor ordered the three states of Yan, Yun, and Qing to open their granaries and release grain to relieve the famine victims.

In August, the people's tax arrears were again reduced or exempted, and all the taxes owed before the fifth year of Tianfu were written off.

In February of the seventh year of Tianfu (942), an imperial decree was issued in Deng, Tang, Sui, Ying and other states in Henan to encourage the reclamation of wasteland. Anyone who reclaimed wasteland would be exempted from taxes for five years.

Shi Jingtang's attitude towards the people was comparable to that of Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan, including amnesty, tax reduction, and various people-friendly measures. However, Li Siyuan created the "Mingzong Prosperous Era" for the Five Dynasties, but Shi Jingtang failed to leave the evaluation of "Tianfu Prosperous Era". Why is this?

To be fair, Shi Jingtang was really unlucky. During the years when he was emperor, all kinds of natural disasters occurred. Natural disasters and continuous military operations made Shi Jingtang act like Li Siyuan, but he did not receive praise from Emperor Mingzong.

3. Natural disasters

To make matters worse, there has not been a single year of good weather and good harvests since Shi Jingtang ascended the throne.

Shi Jingtang proclaimed himself emperor in November 936, and entered Luoyang in the intercalary November. Although the "first year of Tianfu" was only more than two months, God did not discriminate against the poor and still generously gave a drought:
"No rain since autumn, no snow through winter." Shi Jingtang ordered all civil and military officials to pray for rain and snow. In the second year of Tianfu (937):
——On the first day of the first lunar month, the first day of the Lunar New Year, there was a solar eclipse. This is not a "natural disaster", but we have mentioned before that in the feudal period, "solar eclipses" were a great blow to the feudal rulers. Shi Jingtang was quite unhappy, so he came up with a very clever solution - modifying the calendar.

According to the record in the Annals of Emperor Gaozu, "On the first day of the first month, there was a solar eclipse." This means that a solar eclipse occurred on the second day of the first month. The Old History of the Five Dynasties adopted this statement.

However, the "Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms" and "Annals of the Ten Kingdoms" clearly pointed out that this year was "the first day of the first month of the year, Yimao, and the sun was eclipsed", that is, the first day of the first month of this year was Yimao, not Jiayin. It also clearly pointed out that officials of the Later Jin Dynasty tampered with the calendar, "probably because the Jin people changed the calendar to avoid the three-day solar eclipse."

As mentioned above, in the first year of Emperor Zhu Wen's Qianhua reign, a solar eclipse occurred on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Some people said that it was unlucky that an eclipse occurred on the first day of the first lunar month in the last years of Emperor Gaozu of Han, so "Liang Zu hated it very much." Now Shi Jingtang had just ascended the throne, and a solar eclipse occurred on the first day of the first lunar month during his first Spring Festival, so he was very unhappy.

In addition to tampering with the calendar, the officials of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory also offered far-fetched "good news": the sun was only 30% blocked (one-third eclipse within ten minutes), and it was gradually replenished, and it was restored to its original state around 6 o'clock in the morning (gradually growing and full again at the hour of Mao).

A solar eclipse on the first day of the first lunar month is not considered a natural disaster because it has no direct impact on people's production and life and does not disrupt agricultural order. It is only considered a nuisance to the rulers.

——In April, there was a slight drought in Luojing, Weizhou and other places, as mentioned above;
——In June, Xiangzhou reported: The river water rose by 6 feet;
——In August, Huazhou reported: The Wei River overflowed, damaging crops;
——In September, Bei and Wei states reported that the Yellow River had overflowed and damaged crops.
——In December, there was again a lack of rainfall, so Shi Jingtang went to Xiangguo Temple in person to pray for snow.

The third year of Tianfu (938):
——On the first day of the first lunar month, there was another double solar eclipse. However, this solar eclipse was only theoretical. According to the observation and calculation of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, a solar eclipse was supposed to occur on this day. However, it did not actually happen, so all officials came to the court to congratulate him. Shi Jingtang set up a grand ceremonial guard and accepted the congratulations of all officials in the Chongyuan Hall.

——In August, Xiangzhou reported: The water level of the Han River rose by 8 feet;
——Drought in Hezhong Prefecture, Tongzhou, Jiangzhou and other places;
——In September, Xiangzhou reported: The water level of the Han River rose by 9 feet, the embankment burst, and the crops were damaged; Luoyang reported: The water level in Luoyang rose by feet, and the floating bridge was damaged;

——In October, Xiangzhou reported: The river overflowed and damaged the crops;
——In November, Xiangzhou reported: A fire destroyed more than a thousand houses.

The fourth year of Tianfu (939):
--In June, Luoyang was hit by violent storms, "the roof tiles were all flying, and the Chiwen were all broken." "Chiwen" is a decorative feature on the roof of ancient large buildings, with a curled-tail dragon head.

——July 7st: A solar eclipse and a flood in Luoyang, causing serious waterlogging in the city and damaging the Tianjin Bridge;
——On August 8, the Yellow River burst its banks in Boping County (in today’s Liaocheng City, Shandong Province), and floods broke out in Ganling County (in today’s Xingtai City, Hebei Province);
——At the end of the year, heavy snow fell for more than 50 days in a row, and temples of all sizes in the capital held rituals to pray for clear weather, but to no avail.

In the fifth year of Tianfu (940), only this year could be considered safe and sound, but soon after, God had something else planned for him.

The sixth year of Tianfu (941):
——In the first month, Qingzhou reported: The sea is frozen over a hundred miles;
——In April, famine broke out in Qi and Lu;

——In May, Jingzhou reported: Heavy rain and hail, river overflow, and 5 cities in prefectures, counties, and garrisons were damaged;
——In September, the Yellow River in Huazhou burst its banks. The people carried their elders and children to higher ground and were trapped by the flood. As a result, more people died of starvation than drowned. The flood moved eastward. Yanzhou reported that "the water came from the west and washed away the autumn crops." How serious was this flood? According to the report from Yanzhou, "the river flowed eastward and was 9 miles wide."
(End of this chapter)