On Guisu Shu was a minister of the Han DynastyChao Cuo's article from《The History of the Han Dynasty·Shi Huo Zhi is a memorial to Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty at that time.The article comprehensively discusses“Precious millet”(attach importance to food)Attach importance to agriculture and restrain business, go to the governmentBayeuxA series of propositions, such as the elimination of crimes, lay out the facts, reason, inherit from one another, step by step,Express consentSincerity, strong ambition and success.
The holy king is above, and the people do not freeze or starve. They cannot plough and eat（1）, woven and clothed（2）, in order to open its way to wealth（3）。So Yao and Yu had nine years of water, and Tang had seven years of droughtDonate barren landperson（4）And prepare for the first thing by accumulating more livestock.
Today, the whole country is one, and the people of the land do not shun Tang and Yu（5）What will happen to those who have suffered from floods and droughts for several years and have not yet accumulated livestock?Land hasBequeath benefitsThe people have more power. The land of the valley has not been fully cultivated, the benefits of the mountains and rivers have not been fully realized, and the people who eat and swim have not fully returned to agriculture.If the people are poor, evil will grow.Poverty, born of inadequacy;Deficiency, born without farming;No farming, no land（6）；If you do not stay on the ground, you will leave your hometown and light your home. People are like birds and animals.Although there are high cities and deep lakes, strict laws and severe punishments cannot be banned.If you are cold in clothes, don't wait for warmth;Hunger is for food, not for comfort.Hunger and cold bring shame.People will starve if they don't eat any more, and cold if they don't make clothes all the year round.The husband is hungry and can't eat, and his skin is cold and can't dress. Although his mother can't protect his son, can Jun An have his people?The Ming Lord knew that it was true, so he worked for the people in agriculture and mulberry industry. He paid a small amount of taxes and collected a large amount of livestockGranary（7）To prepare for floods and droughts, so people can get it.
People, above all, are herders（8）The pursuit of profits is like water, and the four sides will die.The husband, bead, jade, gold and silver can't be eaten when hungry, and can't be clothed when cold. However, those who are expensive can use the above reasons.It is slightly easy to hide, and it is easy to grasp. It can be used within the sea without suffering from hunger and cold.This order made the officials lightly carry their masters, while the people were easy to go to their villages. The thieves advised them, and the fugitives got less money.Millet cloth and silk are born in the ground and grow up in the time. If we gather our strength, we can't achieve it in a day.The weight of counting stones（9）, the middle man can't win（10）, not for the benefit of evil;One day, I was hungry and cold.Therefore, the king of the Ming Dynasty valued grain, but gold and jade were cheap.
Today, there are no less than two people serving in a family of five farmers. They can only cultivate hundreds of acres of land, and can only collect hundreds of stones.Spring ploughing, summer plowing, autumn harvest, winter storage, cutting firewood, governing the government, giving corvee;No shelter from wind and dust in spring, heat in summer, rain in autumn, cold and cold in winter, and rest every day between four o'clock.He sent them away and welcomed them privately. He hanged himself and asked for help（11）。Diligence is like this, but it is still affected by floods and droughts, and the government is extremely urgent（12）, Fu is restrained from time to time, and changes at dawn and dusk（13）。If there is something to be said, it will be sold if it is half sold. If it is dead, it will be called as "ch è n"（14）；So there were those who sold their land and houses and sold their descendants to repay their debts.And the big merchants hoard interest（15）, small people sell in a row and win（16）On a daily tour of the city, you will sell twice as much as you can in a hurry.Therefore, men do not plough, women do not weave, clothes must be elegant, food must be Liang meat;There is no hardship for farmers, but there is something you can gain by crossing paths（17）。Because of their wealth, the traffic princes were more powerful than the officials, and they were inclined to benefit each other;Traveling thousands of miles, looking at each other from top to bottom（18）, with silky stripes（19）。The merchant annexed the peasants, and the peasants were exiles.
Now the law is cheap for businessmen, and businessmen have become rich and noble;Respect the farmer. The farmer is poor.Therefore, what is vulgar is precious, and what is lord is cheap;The officials are inferior, and the law is respected.Opposite, likes and dislikes（20）But if you want to make the country rich, you can't get it.
The present task is to make people work in agriculture.If you want people to work in agriculture, you should value millet;The way of valuing millet is to make people reward and punish millet.Today, we have raised money from all over the world to become a county magistrate（21）, was able to worship（22）, can be excommunicated.In this way, the rich have nobility, the farmers have money, and the millet has his fate（23）。If you can enter the millet to be honored, there are more than one.If there is more than enough to be used, the poor will lose their wealth（24）As the saying goes, those who have more than the loss and make up for the shortage will benefit the people.Following the hearts of the people, three things should be done: first, the Lord should use enough, second, people should pay less taxes, and third, farmers should be encouraged to do farm work.
Today, people have a bike and a horse（25）, three people were recovered.The cavalry is also the world's armed forces, so it is called Fuzu.Shennong's teachings said: "There are ten stone cities, a hundred steps of soup pond, and a million, without millet, you can't keep it."thereforeIn view, millet is the king's most useful（26）, the essence of politics.Let the people be honored in the milletFive Doctorsabove（27）It is one ear after another, which is far from horse riding.The noble is good at what he does（28）, endless from mouth;The millet is planted by the people. It was born in the ground and there is no shortage.If you want to get rid of your sins, you will get rid of them.Let the people of the world enter the millet at the border, so that they will be excused from punishment. But when they are three years old, there will be more millets.
Your majesty is lucky to bring the world into the valleyBayeuxThis is a great benefit.TheftI'm afraid that the food of the soldiers will not be enough for the big drop.Side food is enough for five years old, which can make people enter Su County;If you are over one year old, you can be forgiven at a certain time. Do not collect rent from farmers.So,DesaiTo all the people, people are diligent in agriculture.Sometimes there is military service. If there are floods and droughts, people will not be tired, and the world will be peaceful;Who is oldIf it is beautiful, people will be very happy.[1-2]
Annotation translation
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Word and sentence annotation
(1) Food: give them food."Shi" is used as a verb.
(2) Clothes: give them clothes."Yi" is used as a verb.
(3) Tao: Way.
(4) J í: an abandoned and emaciated person.Donate, abandon;Poor and thin.
(5) Do not avoid: do not let, do not inferior to.
(6) Zhu ó: settle down in one place.The History of the Han Dynasty - Food and Goods Annals: "The way of managing people is based on the local writings."Yan ShiguNote: "To be on the ground means to be on the ground."
(7) Lin (l ǐ n): rice storehouse.
(8) Animal husbandry: breeding, extended to governance and management.
(9) Stone: unit of weight.In the Han Dynasty, the weight of 30 jin is Jun, and the weight of four Juns is Stone.
(10) Fu Sheng: Not competent.
(11) Long (zh ǎ ng): Nurture.
(12) Government: the same as "levy".Abuse: Qing DynastyWang NianshunIt is regarded as "Fu".
(13) Change: Wang Nianshun thought it was originally "De".
(17) The harvest from the fields:.The paths and paths in the fields are the fields of this generation.
(18) Take advantage of the difficulties: take a strong car and make a fat horse.Push, use a whip to drive a horse.
(19) Wearing silk (y è) chimera (g ǎ o): wearing silk shoes and wearing silk clothes.Drag, drag.Chimera, a delicate white silk fabric.
(20) Good behavior (w ǔ): contrary.
(21) County officials: the general name for officials in the Han Dynasty.
(22) Worship: knighthood.
(23) Cetus (xi è): scattered.
(24) Loss: less.
(25) Horse riding: it refers to war horses.
(26) Big use: the most needed thing.
(27) Five doctors: a title in the Han Dynasty, ranking ninth among the twenty ranks below Hou.Four thousand stones can be granted to anyone who takes millet.
(28) Unauthorized: proprietary.[3]
Vernacular translation
Under the rule of the wise king, the people did not suffer from hunger and cold, not because the king could grow food for them and weave cloth for them, but because he could open up wealth for the people.So although Tang YaoXia YuAt that time, there were nine years of floods,Shang TangAt that time, there was a drought for seven years, but there were no abandoned or skinny people in China. This is because there were so many things to store and prepare for in advance.Now the country is unified, the land is as large as that of Tang and Yu, and the population is as large as that of Tang and Yu, and there are no floods and droughts in successive years, but the savings are not as large as that of Tang and Yu. What is the reason?The reason is that the land still has potential, the people still have spare power, the land that can grow grains has not been fully reclaimed, the resources of mountains, forests, lakes and marshes have not been fully developed, and the idlers have not all returned to the countryside to work in agriculture.
When people live in poverty, they will do evil things.Poverty is due to not being rich, and not being rich is due to not working in agriculture. If you do not engage in agriculture, you cannot settle down in one place. If you cannot settle down, you will leave the countryside, despise your home, and run around like birds and animals.In this way, even if the country has high walls, deep moats, severe laws and cruel punishments, it cannot prohibit them.Frozen people do not require light and warm clothes;The starving people do not require the food to be sweet and delicious;When hunger and cold hit the body, there was no need for shame.It's human nature that if you don't eat two meals a day, you will starve, and if you don't make clothes and wear clothes all year round, you will be frozen.So, if you are hungry and have no food to eat, and you are cold and have no clothes to wear, even a loving mother can't keep her son. How can the monarch keep his people?The wise monarch understood this truth, so he let the people engage in agricultural production, reduced their taxes, and stored a large amount of food in order to enrich the warehouse and prevent floods, droughts, and famine, so that he could own the people.
As for the common people, it depends on how the monarch manages them. They pursue interests just like water flows to the lower places, regardless of the southeast, northwest and northwest.Beads, jade, gold and silver can't be eaten when hungry, and can't be worn when cold;However, people still value it because the monarch needs it.Beads, jade, gold and silver are light, small and easy to collect. If you hold them in your hand, you can travel around the country without the threat of hunger and cold.This will make the officials easily betray his monarch, and the people will also leave their hometown casually. The thieves are encouraged, and those who break the law and flee have property that is easy to carry.The raw materials of millet and cloth are grown in the ground in a certain season, and the harvest also requires human resources, which can not be achieved in a short time.A few stone heavy grains can not be taken by ordinary people, nor are they coveted by evil people;But these things will be starved and frozen if they are not available one day.Therefore, the wise monarch valued grain and despised gold and jade.
At present, there are no less than two people in a family of five farmers who can take part in the work. The land they can cultivate does not exceed 100 mu, and the harvest of 100 mu does not exceed 100 stones.They plow in spring, plough in summer, harvest in autumn, store in winter, and cut firewood, repair government buildings, and perform labor;In spring, we can't avoid the wind and dust, in summer, in summer, in autumn, in winter, and in winter, we can't avoid the cold and cold;On the private side, it is also necessary to communicate with each other, condole the dead, visit the sick, raise the lonely old, and raise children. All expenses should be paid from agricultural income.The farmers are so hard, and they will suffer from floods and droughts. The government will levy taxes and levies at any time. They will give orders in the morning and pay them in the evening.When paying taxes, those who have grain will pay taxes after selling it at half price;People without food have to borrow money at double interest to pay taxes;So there was the matter of selling land and houses, selling wives and children to pay debts.Those merchants, who hoard goods in large quantities, earn double interest;Small businesses open stores, sell goods, and gain benefits by special means.They go to the market every day and take advantage of the opportunity that the government urgently needs goods, the price of the goods they sell will double.Therefore, the men in the merchant's family do not need to plow the fields, and the women do not need to raise silkworms and weave cloth. They must wear beautiful clothes, and eat high-quality rice and meat;Without the labor of farmers, they have very rich profits.Rely on their rich wealth, make friends with princes, surpass officials in power, and compete with each other by virtue of assets;They travel all over the country in an endless stream of cars. They ride solid cars, drive sturdy horses, wear silk shoes and silk clothes.This is the reason why businessmen annexed the land of farmers and farmers went into exile.Nowadays, although the law despises businessmen, they are actually rich;The law respects farmers, but farmers are actually poor.So what ordinary people value is what monarchs despise;What ordinary officials despise is what the law respects.In this case, it is impossible to make the country rich and implement laws.
Today's urgent task is nothing more important than to enable the people to work in agriculture.If people want to engage in agriculture, the key is to raise food prices;The way to raise the price of food is to let the people take food to ask for reward or exemption from punishment.Now we should call on the people of the world to give food to the government, and those who receive food can be awarded titles or atoned for their sins;In this way, the rich can get titles, the farmers can get money, and the grain will not be hoarded and circulated.Those who can pay food and get titles are all rich people.If we get goods from the rich to provide for the government, the taxes borne by the poor people can be reduced. This is called making up the deficiency with the rich. The people can benefit from the law once it is issued.Following the wishes of the people has three advantages: first, the monarch needs enough things, second, the people's taxes are reduced, and third, agricultural production is encouraged.According to the current laws and regulations, people who can transport one war horse can be exempted from military service for three people.War horses are used by the state for war preparedness, so they can exempt people from military service.Shennong once taught: "There are seven or eight zhang high stone walls, a hundred foot wide moat full of boiling water, and millions of fully armed soldiers. But without food, they can't keep it." In this way, food is the most needed asset of the king and the most fundamental political affairs of the country.Now the people are asked to pay for the nobility and be granted more than five doctors to exempt one person from military service, which is far from the function of a war horse.It is the exclusive right of the emperor to grant titles. As long as he opens his mouth, he can grant titles to others endlessly;Food is planted by the people and grows in the land without shortage.People yearn for being knighted and atoning for their sins.If people all over the world were asked to donate food to the frontier fortress in exchange for titles or atonement, the food in the frontier would surely increase in three years.
His majesty has graciously sent grain to the frontier fortress for conferring the title of nobility, which is a great kindness to the people.I was secretly worried that the food of the garrison in the frontier fortress was not enough, so I let the world's food flow into the frontier fortress in large quantities.If the grain stored in the frontier fortress is enough to be used for five years, the people will be able to transport grain to the inland counties;If the grain stored in counties and counties is enough to be used for more than one year, they can issue an edict at any time, without collecting land tax from farmers.In this way, your majesty's kindness and rain will fall on all people in the world, and people will be more actively involved in agricultural production, and the world will be very rich and happy.[3]
Creation background
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In the early days of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of the Han DynastyLiu BangAs a result of taking a series of measures, such as striking the army and returning home, restraining businessmen, and light corvee, agricultural production, which was severely damaged by successive wars in the late Qin Dynasty, was gradually restored.After assuming the throne, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty continued to pursue the policy of "resting with the people", attached importance to agriculture and mulberry, and promoted the prosperity of agriculture and the development of commerce.However, it also resulted in the social phenomenon that the low price of grain hurt farmers due to the development of commerce, the annexation and occupation of farmers by big landlords and merchants intensified, a large number of farmers were displaced, and class contradictions became increasingly intensified.In response to this problem, Chao Cuo wrote this memorial, comprehensively discussed the importance of "valuing millet" (attaching importance to grain), and put forward a series of propositions, such as emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce, entering millet into official positions, and paying homage to officials, which had certain progressive significance for the development of production and the consolidation of national defense at that time.[3]
Appreciation of works
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Shushu is a style of expressing opinions to the emperor, also known as "memorials" or "memorials".This article analyzes the serious social and economic problems in the early Western Han Dynasty. Big landlords and big businessmen annexed land, amassed property, displaced a large number of farmers, lived in hardship, and social conflicts became increasingly acute.In the time of Emperor Wen, in order to prevent the invasion of the Huns, the frontier fortress had countless Chen soldiers and consumed huge amounts of food.In response to these problems, Chao Cuoshu comprehensively discussed the importance of "valuing millet" and clarified that people should work in agriculture and enter millet at the border, so as to solve the contradiction between the rich and the poor between farmers and merchants, and the contradiction between the guards and soldiers at the border without food supply.The article quotes the past and talks about the present. It uses the technique of contrast to compare the time of the ancient sage king with the time of the present, to compare the grain with the pearl, jade, gold and silver, and to compare the rich businessmen with the working people.The logic is rigorous, the language is fluent, and full of strong emotions.
The full text through the pros and cons of the continuous discussion of the importance of agriculture and millet for the country's prosperity and stability of the people's life has a decisive significance.When explaining the problem, the author uses the contrast between ancient and modern times, the contrast between farmers and rich businessmen, the contrast between laws and the actual situation, so that his ideas can be more clearly expressed and the rulers can realize the seriousness of the problem.Especially the description of the poverty and poverty in the real life of farmers is highly revealing.
The so-called "cheap grain hurts farmers" means that if food is too cheap, it will dampen farmers' enthusiasm for growing food and lead to a decrease in output, which has a great impact on the long-term stability of the country.Because China has always been an agricultural country in history, the rulers of previous dynasties have attached great importance to the development of agriculture.Chao Cuo believed that if there were more reserves, people's hearts would be stable and the rule would be stable;To increase the accumulation, we must find ways to make farmers devote themselves to agricultural production.However, the current situation is that farmers have been busy for a year, but in the end they only have a small income. In order to cope with various taxes, some even "sell land and houses, sell descendants";However, without the labor of farmers, businessmen can "wear elegant clothes and eat delicious food".This kind of gap cannot make farmers feel at ease in agriculture, so the author puts forward the view that "it is important for farmers to value millet".
The article has distinctive writing characteristics. First of all, it mainly adopts the method of layer by layer comparative analysis to demonstrate.The article is full of positive and negative points of view.At the beginning, by comparing the past and the present, it clarifies that "not farming" in this world is contrary to the purpose of the ancient sage king "opening his way to wealth";Then, the harm of non agriculture is compared with the principle of emphasizing agriculture and protecting the people, and the idea of "serving the people in agriculture and mulberry" is put forward;Then, through the comparative analysis of the value and function of pearl, jade, gold and silver and millet cloth and silk, it was emphasized that the Ming monarch should attach importance to agriculture and suppress commerce, "valuing grain but valuing gold and jade".The second part points out the current problems, and points out the fundamental reasons for "merchants annexing farmers and farmers exiling" through a comparative analysis of the hardships and joys of farmers and merchants.The third part puts forward countermeasures to demonstrate the significance of the proposition of "valuing millet" by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of "resuming soldiers" and "being honored by millet".In a word, the positive and negative aspects of the whole article are presented to make the positive views more distinctive and persuasive.
Secondly, the chain reasoning of argumentation is used in the writing, such as "poverty is born of inadequacy, inadequacy is born of non agriculture, non agriculture means no land, non land means no home, people are like birds and animals..." From here to there, the article is interlinked, which enhances the argument power of the article.
There are also incisive arguments and rigorous discussions.The central purpose of the article is to clarify the ideological proposition of "valuing agriculture and cherishing millet".The first part first clarifies the purpose of emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce in order to "open its way to wealth" and establish a solid and reliable theoretical basis for the proposition of "valuing millet".The second part points out the current problems. Correct policies are the fundamental guarantee for the implementation of basic national policies.Through comparative analysis, the article pointedly points out that the policy of "emergency and tyranny, and frequent imposition" is the fundamental reason why businessmen annexed farmers and farmers fled.On this basis, the last part of the article puts forward the specific measures of "taking millet as reward and punishment", and discusses the three major functions of this measure, namely, "focusing on the use of sufficient resources", "paying less taxes to the people", and "persuading farmers to do meritorious deeds", which is consistent with the purpose of "laying stress on agriculture and restraining business" proposed at the beginning.Focusing on the idea of "valuing agriculture and cherishing millet", the full text clarifies the purpose, points out the current problems, advances layer by layer, deepens layer by layer, makes incisive arguments, discusses rigorously and has strong persuasiveness.Lu Xun said in the Outline of the History of Han Literature that Chao Cuo's articles were "straightforward and eager, and spoke as much as he wanted".[4]
About the author
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Chao Cuo (200-154 BC), a native of Yingchuan (now Yuxian County, Henan Province), was a statesman during the period of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty.I first learned from Zhang Hui the legalist theory of Shen Buhai and Shang Yang.Emperor Wen, who was too familiar with stories at that time, was ordered to receive the Shangshu from the former Dr. Qin Fusheng.Later, he was the order of the Crown Prince's family, which was trusted by the Crown Prince (i.e. the Emperor Jing) and was called the "brain trust".Emperor Jing ascended the throne and was appointed as the imperial doctor.He insisted on the policy of "attaching importance to the root and restraining the end" (that is, attaching importance to agriculture and restraining commerce), advocated that Nasu should be honored, suggested that people should be recruited to enrich the frontier fortress, actively prepare for the attack of the Xiongnu nobles, and proposed to cut the vassal states to consolidate the centralization of power, which was adopted by the Emperor of Jing.The princes of the Seven Kingdoms led by Liu Bi, the king of Wu, therefore took the name of "please kill Chao Cuo, and take the side of the king of Qing Dynasty" to raise troops to rebel.Emperor Jing was afraid of the Seven Country Company and executed him.There are eight more complete works of Chao Cuo, which are scattered in the Book of Han, the Biography of Yuan Ang Chao Cuo, the Biography of Jing Yan and Wu, and the Records of Food and Goods.[3]
