Several factors lead to the destruction of the Han dynasty, many of
which seemed like trivial issues in the eyes of the Han emperors. First
off, both the Former Han and Later Han dynasties collapsed due to internal conflict.
The
growing Xiongnu established a threat, and the Han Wudi made the right
choice in attacking them after failing to pacifying them. However, this
constituted an enormous economic strain, and Wudi had to tax his people
heavily to compensate for loss. If I were to intervene, it would have
had to been a long time ago. I would have suggested Wudi, or an earlier
emperor to set aside a fraction of tax collected in an effort to prepare for future threat.
This way, should a future threat arrive, such as the Xiongnu, there
would be sufficient tax money set aside to afford warfare.
A
mistake Wudi made was confiscating land and personal property from
wealthy individuals in order to pay for warfare. This discouraged
investment in manufacturing and trading enterprises, which caused damage
to the economy. Another way I would intervene would be suggesting Emperor Wudi not to confiscate any land or personal property. This also goes back to the earlier suggestion, had the emperor saved enough tax - there would be no need to confiscate land.
Yet another problem that arose was the social difference between the
higher class and the peasants. This social difference lead to peasants
rebellions. One cause of this might be nutrient deficiency. Because the
higher class had access to a variety of foods, rich in vegetables in
meat - whereas the peasants had a minimal amount of vegetables and meat -
peasants did not get all the nutrients they needed to complete the
workload required by agriculture. The malnourishment of peasants can be
considered as one of the factors that lead to rebellion. To decrease the possibility of rebellion, the emperor should have decreased the taxes placed on peasants.
Wang
Mang the “socialist emperor” did not make the right decision in
breaking up large estates - which lead to the downfall of the Former
Han. I would have asked him to instead consider making a law that set a limit on how much an individual commoner can borrow, so that they do not accumulate a heavy debt.
This would decrease the likelihood of people giving up their land, or
selling their family. In the Later Han dynasty, emperors made the same
mistake by disregarding the issue of land distribution. A series of
rebellions also lead to the Later Han dynasty’s downfall.
Comment your thoughts
I agree with you on cutting taxes for peasants. I also agree with the credit limit which would stop the accumulations of heavy debts. However, you did not mention a specific way to fix the land distribution problem.
ReplyDeleteJay, you make some good points about the Xiongnu and tax problems, but you don't talk about the downside of putting a limit on the amount of money commoners can borrow; the wealthy class are full of greedy and selfish people.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea about intervening long before wudi taxed his people heavily. Also, I agree with setting aside a fraction of money tax collected to fund future wars. This is good because it lets you tax less and still have money to fund for a war.
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