China has been a big country based on agriculture since ancient times. For thousands of years, agriculture has always played an important role in national development, and sometimes even decided the rise and fall of a dynasty. Emphasized the agriculture dynasty, basically can maintain stability and prosperity, otherwise it is difficult to easily make the country into turmoil or even chaos. Countless peasant uprisings in history are almost all related to agricultural development, and their slogans are mostly related to the foundation of agriculture? It is related to land, and the tangled land problem is actually entangled in the distribution of food.

China's ancestors, with their cleverness, soon realized that solving the land problem was actually solving the food problem. So, how can we delay and weaken a series of crises that may be triggered by the food problem?

As we all know, in ancient times, agricultural productivity was relatively low, the security of grain production was relatively fragile, agricultural development was deeply affected by natural conditions, and grain production faced the uncertainty of bumper harvest or poor harvest all the year round, and it also suffered seasonal delays. These objective effects make the distribution of grain supply extremely uneven in time.

The general rule is that there is basically no problem in good years, and there may be many contradictions in bad years. Summer and autumn are often better, and there may be crises in winter and spring. Under the background of China's long-term active commodity economy, the general performance of this law is the ups and downs of grain prices.

Hanshu? "Food Records" said: "It is very expensive and hurts people; It's cheap and hurts farmers. People's injuries are scattered, and agricultural injuries are poor. "

It is the motive and starting point for China's rulers to try to alleviate the contradiction between grain supply and demand to solve the problem that "people are scattered when they are injured, and the country is poor when they are injured by agriculture". Therefore, the rulers must pay attention to stabilizing food prices and social and economic order.

In view of this situation, Changcang has stepped onto the historical stage and become one of the magic weapons favored by rulers. The development of the continuous liquidation system is very clear, which originated in the pre-Qin period, began in the Western Han Dynasty, matured in the Tang and Song Dynasties and ended in the late Qing Dynasty. In the process of development, the system has changed from time to time, stretching up and down for two thousand years.

Although its system inevitably produced branches and leaves in the long historical process, it generally inherited Fan Li ("Ping Jian < Ti? O > "On"), Guan Zhong's ("Convergence of Light and Dispersion of Heavy") and Li Kui's ("Ping < D? > "Lun Heng" and other pre-Qin philosophers' meaning of "constant price", and then buy as much grain as possible in a good year or harvest, store it in a warehouse, and then sell it in a poor year or harvest to adjust the relationship between grain supply and demand. This policy is a system of continuous liquidation. Essentially, it was an effective social management system pursued by China feudal society.

Zhong Shouchang, an old farmer in the Western Han Dynasty, is regarded as the founder of China's perfect constant liquidation system. In 54 BC, he was invited to build a warehouse in the northern border county. "When food is cheap, there will be more farmers, and when food is expensive, there will be fewer farmers and nesting." But the purpose of setting up warehouses is mainly to solve the problem of food supply for soldiers guarding the border.

In the fifth year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 62), the Han Dynasty began to set up regular positions in the mainland. Since then, imperial edicts have been issued in the fourth year of Liang Wudi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (268 years), the twelfth year of Emperor Xiaowen in the Northern Wei Dynasty (486 years) and the second year of Emperor Renshou in the Sui Dynasty (602 years), all of which declared the world prosperous and open to regular liquidation. Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty successively ordered some important places, such as Dao and Zhou, to build positions in the valley.

In the seventh year of Kaiyuan (7 19), it was agreed that there would be 3,000 warehouses in Dazhou, 2,000 warehouses in Zhongzhou and 1,000 warehouses in Zhouxiaocang, which was the first time to set a quota for local administrative units. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, Sinong Temple was established to take charge of the national Hengqing affairs and allocate special funds as the principal of Hengqing according to the needs of each household.

In the first year of Ming Chang in Jin Zhangzong (1 190), the court issued a custom: "The market price in a good year is increased by two tenths, and that in a frugal year is reduced by one tenth, which means a flat year." Establish the price standard for the first time.

In the Yuan Dynasty, "Hehuo" grain and Cao grain were settled regularly, and then the capital collected by the iron class was used as the account book. In the imperial edict from Wuzong to the second year (1309), it was explicitly mentioned for the first time to set up regular liquidation positions in county-level administrative units.

In the Ming Dynasty, the system of continuous liquidation was not widely implemented. Instead, it is a "storage warehouse" with grain borrowing as its main function.

In the seventeenth year of Qing Shunzhi (1660), it was stipulated that the positions should be closed regularly, returned in spring and summer, and distributed to the poor in disaster years. From the annual adjustment used in previous dynasties, it has become a quarterly adjustment within one year. In the twentieth year of Kangxi (1682), he was ordered to discuss local officials in different levels according to the number of people who advised to donate to Changping Valley. Different from the past, Guben obtained capital from state finance, and donations from officials and gentry became a very important source of ordinary Pinggu capital in Qing Dynasty. In the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi (1695), in order to prevent the granary from rotting, the system of "storing seven grains and three grains" was implemented to bring forth the old and bring forth the new. During the Qianlong period, the population grew rapidly, food was tight, and rice prices soared. In order to avoid further reducing the grain circulation in the market, the Qing government had to order to temporarily stop purchasing grain for storage in the eighth year of Qianlong (1743). Four years later, the total amount of the valley closed by the governors shall be subject to the storage amount in Yongzheng period, and the excess shall be recovered.

Since then, the regular liquidation in the Qing Dynasty has turned from prosperity to decline. From the Opium War to the Revolution of 1911 which overthrew the Qing Dynasty, a series of troubles occurred in China. Although the imperial court ordered the establishment of permanent posts many times, it had little effect, mostly in name only. The above is an overview of the development of China's continuous liquidation system.

Although the continuous liquidation system has a long history in China, before the Tang Dynasty, it was only implemented in some areas as a temporary expedient of the imperial court. After the Tang dynasty, except for a few dynasties, it was basically promoted on a large scale as an established basic national policy.

When the dynasty politics is clear, the state treasury is solid and the society is stable, regular liquidation can be well implemented, which plays a positive role in stabilizing food prices, alleviating famine and developing production.

When the dynasty is politically corrupt, the country is declining, the society is in turmoil, and even the local regime is divided, the constant liquidation system often becomes a mere formality, and even becomes a tool to collect money and kill people. In this era, many "good policies" of the feudal dynasty have basically become the source for those in power, corrupt officials and evil gentry to embezzle state wealth and fish the people, and have become governments that have brought disaster to the country and the people. On the historical stage of small-scale peasant economy and bureaucratic politics, all the so-called policies or systems of "respecting the law and being beautiful and good" cannot overcome the erosion of power desire and form a ruling tool that wears the same face but plays different roles and presents different faces.

But in any case, the continuous liquidation system played a positive role in the development of ancient agricultural society in China and saved the lives of countless hungry people, which must be affirmed.