For example, they were not unaware that land annexation and the feudal system were the root causes of the dynasty's downfall.
In the late Han Dynasty, Shi Dan proposed "limiting land and slaves", and in the early Ming Dynasty, Ye Bogu pointed out that "feudalization would cause the princes to be extravagant, become too powerful to be controlled, waste finances, and threaten imperial power."
But even so, many dynasties repeated the same mistakes, neither curbing land annexation nor stopping enfeoffment.
The reason is that the ancients only knew the results but not the reasons. Moreover, when they were in the situation, they always thought that others would do that, but they would not do that, like Zhu Yuanzhang, who appointed so many princes in one go and gave them all real power.
Although the Ming Dynasty was strong, many of its problems were left over from the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang.
After Zhu Di succeeded, he was forced to spend huge sums of money to support the princes in various places in order to appease them. At the same time, he gave too much preferential treatment to scholars. Juren and Jinshi were exempted from most taxes, which caused tax collection difficulties.
As the saying goes, "As long as Zhongxian is alive, the Ming Dynasty will not be destroyed" and "The Ming army is invincible if it is not fully paid, and it is invincible if it is fully paid." Although this is a fabrication made up on the Internet in later generations, the actual situation is definitely not that simple.
But after Wei Zhongxian's death, Chongzhen's tax revenue continued to decline, and it was a fact that in the end he could not even borrow money from his own father-in-law.
There are also examples such as the stinginess of Prince Fu, who ultimately died tragically, the willingness of Prince Zhou of Kaifeng to pay fire to the soldiers defending the city, and the fact that Li Zicheng took the city after a year-long battle thanks to the flooding of the Yellow River. These examples all prove that these actions were not groundless and also demonstrate the importance of whether feudal dynasties could collect taxes.
The Qing Dynasty was essentially saved by Yongzheng, otherwise it would have been no more than the Yuan Dynasty. The Song Dynasty, however, was like an indestructible cockroach. Despite the severe land annexation, it was able to stabilize its internal situation and was eventually destroyed by foreign enemies.
It can only be said that the Song Dynasty was indeed lucky. Champa rice helped with agricultural reforms, and foreign trade maintained commercial prosperity. It was able to maintain the dynasty without completely suppressing land annexation. The Song Dynasty is unique in history.
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