When talking about the richest dynasty in history, we have to mention the Song Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty was the most prosperous era of economy, culture, and education in Chinese history, reaching the pinnacle of feudal society.
The population of the Song Dynasty had reached 20 million households, more than 100 million people, and the cultivated land reached 720 million acres. At that time, the economy of the Song Dynasty accounted for 60% of the world's.
In the tenth year of Xining's reign (1077), the treasury revenue of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty was 70.7 million guan, reaching a maximum of 160 million guan. Even though the Southern Song Dynasty lost half of its country, the treasury revenue was as high as 100 million guan.
You must know that when the Song Dynasty was the largest, it was only a quarter of the Tang Dynasty. During the Southern Song Dynasty, it was even smaller.
With such a small land area, its fiscal revenue was several times that of the Tang Dynasty.
Because the Song Dynasty developed commerce and did not exclude making money.
The development of industry and commerce has liberated farmers from the land to engage in handicrafts and commerce.
The commercial taxation of the Song Dynasty far exceeded that of agriculture. It basically looked like a commercial society. Commerce was so developed that money was not enough, so banknotes were issued (Jiaozi). Never in the past dynasties had such a relaxed attitude towards business. In addition to the military, the Song Dynasty
Except for the concept of national defense, it can be regarded as the most successful dynasty in other aspects. Other dynasties have retreated to an agricultural society.
"As long as your Majesty encourages business, within five years, the revenue from commercial taxes will exceed the annual revenue before the Tang Dynasty, and it will be doubled within ten years." Lin Xuan said with great certainty.
Li Shimin's eyes widened.
Double that? Doesn’t that mean the business tax alone is 70 to 80 million dollars a year?
If it could really reach that point, how prosperous would Datang be?
Wouldn't he far surpass Emperor Qin and Han Wu in the future?
Li Shimin soon calmed down, thinking that this was very impossible.
Even if it can be achieved, if everyone goes into business, who will plant the fields?
Although Li Shimin didn't understand inflation, he also knew that prices were soaring and money was worthless.
"The imperial court has money now, but it doesn't even have the food to send troops. What's the use of just having money?" Li Shimin shook his head.
Since the beginning of Shang Yang's Reform in the Qin Dynasty, the country has relied on agricultural development as its basic foundation, focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce. By the Han Dynasty, the development of agriculture had become the foundation of the country.
The mutual integration of Confucianism and Legalism became the main idea of the Han Dynasty's emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce. From then on, all dynasties began to take effect, and they were even worse in this regard.
Although Li Shimin was an emperor through the ages, he was still influenced by this idea of valuing agriculture and suppressing business.
Business is constantly suppressed. Businessmen have little status in society and are not a profession that honors their ancestors. A series of policies and systems have been established to restrict the activities of businessmen, which makes business development more difficult.
In the Tang Dynasty, the emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business became more serious. Many people peeked at the wealth of merchants and began to rob merchants of their property in order to satisfy their own selfish desires. This had a great impact on commercial development.
The environment of the Song Dynasty was very different from that of other dynasties. After the founding of the Song Dynasty, although the domestic political power had been stabilized and society was stable under the governance of Zhao Kuangyin, border wars never stopped. During the three years when the Song Dynasty ruled the country,
For more than a hundred years, the border has been at war.
In order to stabilize society, it was necessary to continuously carry out financial military expenditures. Every year, the taxes of the Song Dynasty were basically spent on the northern border.
In order to have enough money to finance border wars, commercial tax is a very good choice.
After careful consideration, the development of commerce became a matter supported by the imperial court. Although commerce developed, it did not mean that the Song Dynasty shelved agriculture. On the contrary, as the economy developed, agriculture gradually became stronger.
Anyone familiar with history knows that although food prices in the Song Dynasty were higher than those in the Tang Dynasty, food prices in the Song Dynasty were not expensive.
Therefore, the situation mentioned by Li Shimin will not occur at all.
What's more, Lin Xuan has two high-yielding crops, corn and potatoes.
"Your Majesty, I have recently obtained another crop called corn. Although the yield of this crop is not as high as that of potatoes, it can still produce more than five stones per mu. And this crop is different from potatoes. Although potatoes can satisfy hunger, they are not difficult to replace.
The staple food, and corn is the staple food, does your Majesty know what this means?"
"Is everything you said true?" Li Shimin stood up in shock.
Potatoes cannot replace staple food, Lin Xuan had told him before.
Although it cannot replace the staple food, eating it together can prevent the Tang Dynasty from facing the crisis of food shortage. Li Shimin is very satisfied.
But now Lin Xuan tells him that there is a staple food with an yield of more than five stones per mu, how can he not be surprised?
The yield of five stones per mu means that one acre of land can support an adult man.
"I dare not deceive Your Majesty, but has Your Majesty ever thought about what would happen if this food was popularized?" Lin Xuan asked.
"What happened?" Li Shimin was stunned.
If the grain output is high, the country will naturally be peaceful and the people will live and work in peace and contentment, what else can happen?
"Once it is promoted, there will be no one to collect the rotten grain in the fields. The grain grown by the common people cannot be sold, and the common people don't even have the money to buy salt." Lin Xuan said with a very serious expression.
Don't think Lin Xuan is exaggerating, although high-yield crops such as potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes were introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty.
However, the Ming and Qing Dynasties were the Little Ice Age, the drought in the north was very severe, and the population was very large, so there was no shortage of food.
During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the population was 190 million. Even after the great chaos in the late Ming Dynasty, the population in the early Qing Dynasty was still over 100 million.
But what about the Tang Dynasty?
The current population is only over 10 million, and including the hidden population, it will not exceed 20 million at most.
When there are no high-yielding crops, food prices can be as low as four or five cents per dou.
Now that we have high-yielding crops, the situation that Lin Xuan mentioned may really happen.
"How is that possible?" Li Shimin was a little unbelievable.
It has been seven years since he took the throne, and the Tang Dynasty has been short of food.
He really couldn't believe that the situation Lin Xuan mentioned would happen.
But reason told him that if what Lin Xuan said about a grain yield of more than five dan per mu was true, and the weather had been good year after year, that situation was really possible.
"Your Majesty, do you still remember Zhenguan Rice? In Linyi State, grain was harvested three times a year. The grain was worthless and no one harvested it when it rotted in the ground. If the Tang Dynasty had bumper harvests year after year, why wouldn't that happen?" Lin Xuan said.
Li Shimin's expression changed. If that situation really happened, there would be big trouble.
All income of ordinary people depends on land. When land cannot bring them income, the whole world will be in chaos.
But Li Shimin was unwilling to give up promoting corn.
Food is related to his ambitions. If he didn't know about this high-yielding food before, it would be okay, but now that he knows, it is impossible for him to give up.
Li Shimin had always been troubled by the lack of food, but now he was troubled by the abundance of food.
I don’t know if this is considered a happy trouble.
Seeing that Li Shimin had almost digested it, Lin Xuan said: "Your Majesty, in this way, some people need to be liberated from the land. The imperial court encourages business, and people can do business or work in workshops. Only by combining industry, commerce and agriculture can the world be brought together.
Stablize."
Li Shimin was silent for a while and said: "I have to consider this matter carefully. When the corn is planted, let me know. I want to see it myself."
Encouraging business is not a trivial matter, and promoting corn also takes time, so there is no rush now.