A Memorial on Higher Valuation of Grains..........Chao Cuo

论贵粟疏

晁错

圣王在上，而民不冻饥者，非能耕而食之，织而衣之也，为开其资财之道也。故尧、禹有九年之水，汤有七年之旱，而国亡捐瘠者，以畜积多而备先具也。今海内为一，土地人民之众不避汤、禹，加以亡天灾数年之水旱，而畜积未及者，何也？地有遗利，民有余力，生谷之土未尽垦，山泽之利未尽出也，游食之民未尽归农也。

民贫，则奸邪生。贫生于不足，不足生于不农，不农则不地著，不地著则离乡轻家，民如鸟兽。虽有高城深池，严法重刑，犹不能禁也。夫寒之于衣，不待轻暖；饥之于食，不待甘旨；饥寒至身，不顾廉耻。人情一日不再食则饥，终岁不制衣则寒。夫腹饥不得食，肤寒不得衣，虽慈母不能保其子，君安能以有其民哉？明主知其然也，故务民于农桑，薄赋敛，广畜积，以实仓廪，备水旱， 故民可得而有也。

民者，在上所以牧之，趋利如水走下，四方无择也。夫珠玉金银，饥不可食，寒不可衣，然而众贵之者，以上用之故也。其为物轻微易藏，在于把握，可以周海内而无饥寒之患。此令臣轻背其主，而民易去其乡，盗贼有所劝，亡逃者得轻资也。粟米布帛生于地，长于时，聚于力，非可一日成也。数石之重，中人弗胜，不为奸邪所利；一日弗得而饥寒至。是故明君贵五谷而贱金玉。

今农夫五口之家，其服役者不下二人，其能耕者不过百亩，百亩之收不过百石。春耕，夏耘，秋获，冬藏，伐薪樵，治官府，给徭役；春不得避风尘，夏不得避署热，秋不得避阴雨，冬不得避寒冻，四时之间，无日休息。又私自送往迎来，吊死问疾，养孤长幼在其中。勤苦如此，尚复被水旱之灾，急政暴虐，赋敛不时，朝令而暮改。当具有者半贾而卖，无者取倍称之息；于是有卖田宅、鬻子孙以偿债者矣。而商贾大者积贮倍息，小者坐列贩卖，操其奇赢，日游都市，乘上之急，所卖必倍。故其男不耕耘，女不蚕织，衣必文采，食必粱肉；无农夫之苦，有阡陌之得。因其富厚，交通王侯，力过吏势，以利相倾；千里游遨，冠盖相望，乘坚策肥，履丝曳缟。此商人所以兼并农人，农人所以流亡者也。今法律贱商人，商人已富贵矣；尊农夫，农夫已贫贱矣。故俗之所贵，主之所贱也；吏之所卑，法之所尊也。上下相反，好恶乖迕，而欲国富法立，不可得也。

方今之务，莫若使民务农而已矣。欲民务农，在于贵粟；贵粟之道，在于使民以粟为赏罚。今募天下入粟县官，得以拜爵，得以除罪。如此，富人有爵，农民有钱，粟有所渫。夫能入粟以受爵，皆有余者也。取于有余，以供上用，则贫民之赋可损，所谓损有余、补不足，令出而民利者也。顺于民心，所补者三：一曰主用足，二曰民赋少，三曰劝农功。今令民有车骑马一匹者，复卒三人。车骑者，天下武备也，故为复卒。神农之教曰：“有石城十仞，汤池百步，带甲百万，而无粟，弗能守也。”以是观之，粟者，王者大用，政之本务。令民入粟受爵，至五大夫以上，乃复一人耳，此其与骑马之功相去远矣。爵者，上之所擅，出于口而无穷；粟者，民之所种，生于地而不乏。夫得高爵也免罪，人之所甚欲也。使天下人入粟于边，以受爵免罪，不过三岁，塞下之粟必多矣。

A Memorial on Higher Valuation of Grains

Chao Cuo

Under the reign of wise monarchs, people did not starve or suffer from cold, not because the monarchs themselves grew food or weaved cloth for them, but because they opened up financial resources for the people. Therefore, although there were nine years of floods during the reign of Tang Yao and Xia Yu, and seven years of drought during the reign of Shang Tang, no one starved to death in the country, as there was plenty of stock and adequate preparations made in advance. Now the country is unified, the land and the population are no less than those of Tang’s and Yu’s time, and we have no successive years of floods and droughts, but we do not have as plenty of stock as in those times. What is the reason? The reason is that the land still has potential; the people still have strength to spare; the land that can produce grain has not been fully cultivated; the resources of mountains, rivers and lakes have not been fully exploited, and the idlers have not all returned to engage in agriculture.

When people are poor, they will do evil things. Poverty is due to lack of wealth, and lack of wealth is due to shunning of agriculture. If people do not engage in agriculture, they will not settle down in a place. If people do not settle down in a place, they will leave their native land and despise their homes, and run away like birds and beasts. Then the state, despite its high walls, its deep moats, its harsh laws and its cruel punishments, could not stop them from going away. People suffering from cold do not require clothes to be both light and warm; the hungry do not require their food to be tasty. When hunger and cold come upon people, they have no sense of shame. It is human nature that if one does not eat two meals a day, one will feel hungry, and if one does not make clothes and get dressed all year round, one will feel cold. When one is hungry but has nothing to eat, and when one feels cold but has no clothes to wear, even a loving mother cannot keep her sons, and how can a monarch keep his people? A wise monarch understands this, so he makes his people engage in agriculture, reduces their taxes, and stores grain in large quantities to replenish the storehouses against floods and droughts, thus winning over people and enjoying their support.

As for the people, it depends on how the monarchs govern them, as they pursue their interests like water flowing downhill in whatever direction. Pearls, jade, gold and silver cannot be eaten as food when one is hungry, nor can they be worn as clothes when one feels cold. Yet people still value them because monarchs use them. Items like pearls, jade, gold and silver are light in weight and small in size, and easy to carry around. With these at hand, one can travel around the country without being threatened by hunger and cold. This makes it easy for the subjects to desert their monarch, for the people to leave their homes, for the thieves to get encouraged, and for the fugitives to flee easily carrying their possessions. Grain and raw materials of cloth grow in the fields, mature in timely seasons; their harvest also requires labor and cannot be done overnight.Grain weighing about a hundred kilograms is too heavy for ordinary people to carry, nor is it coveted by the wicked, but without it for a whole day people will feel hungry and cold. Therefore, wise monarchs value the five cereals and despise gold and jade.

Now, supposing a household has five people, more than two of them have to work as corvee laborers, but they own no more than 100 mu of arable land, which can yield less than 3 tons of grain. They plough the fields in spring, cultivate crops in summer, harvest them in autumn, and store them in winter. Besides, they have to cut wood, build and repair government houses, and serve as corvee laborers. In spring they cannot shun wind and dust, in summer they cannot shun heat, in autumn they cannot shun rains, in winter they cannot shun cold, and they have not a day of rest all the year round. On their private side, they have friends and relatives to receive and see off, pay condolence calls and visit the sick, take care of the elderly and the young, for which all the expenses come out of the agricultural income. Peasants fare so hard and suffer from floods and droughts in addition; governments levy taxes in a manner harsh and urgent and at irregular time, and orders are issued in the morning and changed in the evening. When it is time to pay taxes, those who have grain sell it at half price for tax payment. Those who have no grain are forced to borrow money at double interest to pay taxes. As a result, land, houses, wives and children are sold in order to pay off debts. Whereas the affluent merchants hoard goods and reap double interest; the petty merchants set up their stalls to sell goods for a good profit, and wander the streets every day to inquire about the market. By taking advantage of the government’s need for goods, the merchants double the prices of the goods they sell. Therefore, the men of merchants’ families do not have to plow the fields and the women do not have to raise silkworms and weave cloth. The clothes they wear are surely fine, and the foods they eat are the best rice and choice meat. Without suffering hardship of labor, they reap abundant profit from farming and sericulture. Relying on their wealth, the merchants make friends with the nobility, surpass officials in power, and contend with each other on the strength of their wealth. They travel thousands of miles in endless caravans and sturdy chariots whipping stout horses while wearing silk shoes and silk robes. That is why the merchants can annex the land of the peasants and the peasants can only flee their native land. Now although the law despises the merchants, they are already wealthy and glorified. The peasants are valued but they are already poverty-stricken. Therefore what is valued by the common people is what the monarch despises; What the officials despise is what the law respects. The upside is regarded as the downside, while the right and wrong are reversed. Under these circumstances, it is impossible to make the country rich and to enforce the laws right.

Today there is no task more pressing than enable people to engage in agriculture. The key to getting people into agriculture is to raise the price of grain. The way to raise the price of grain is to let the people exchange grain for rewards or exemption from punishment. Now it is time to call on all the people to pay grain to the government. Those who pay grain should be granted title or atoned for their sins. In this way, the rich can get titles, the peasants can own money, and the grain can circulate instead of being hoarded. Those who can pay grain to get titles have considerable property. By taking goods from the rich for the government’s use, the taxes of the poor can be reduced. This is called taking from the rich to compensate for deficiency of the poor, and as soon as the decree is issued, the people will benefit. There are three advantages in complying with the wishes of the people: first, the monarch will have enough to supply his needs; second, the people will be taxed less; third, people will be encouraged to engage in agricultural production. According to the current law, if the people supply one battle steed, three men will be exempted from military service. As battle steeds belong to the country’s war preparations, they can exempt men from military service. The teaching of Shennong reads: “Despite its stone walls seven or eight feet high, a moat a hundred paces wide filled with boiling water and a million armed men, a city cannot be held without grain .” From this perspective, grain constitutes the monarch’s most needed asset, and concerns the most fundamental state affairs. At present, the common people are required to pay grain in exchange for titles, and only when they have attained the rank of Wudafu and above can one man be exempted from military service, which is far from the worthiness of a battle steed. The conferment of titles being the monarch’s exclusive power, as long as he gives the order out of his mouth, titles can be conferred on infinite number of people, while grain, which is planted by the people, grows in the soil and is never lacking. When it can be exchanged for titles and atone for sins, people will yearn for this privilege using grain. When all the people in the country supply grain to the frontier in exchange for a title or atonement, there the amount of grain will surely increase within three years.

Translated by Jin Deming