Dynasty change in China is a historical cycle again and again. When every dynasty perished, it was really because the treasury was empty. Where is the root of the emptiness of the national treasury? The ancient feudal dynasty in China was an agricultural society, and agriculture was an important source of national income.
In the middle and late dynasty, the nobles annexed a lot of land, which led to a large number of farmers going bankrupt and becoming refugees. However, the land illegally annexed by nobles is not subject to tax. Of course, most people directly and blatantly evade taxes, so the income of the country has been greatly reduced.
In order to increase income, the state levied a large number of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes on farmers who still own land, so the burden on farmers became heavier and heavier, and they simply invested in big landlords to become slaves of tenant farmers, and the state finances fell into a vicious circle, leading to the country's demise.
In order to slow down the speed of land annexation and prolong the life of the dynasty, people of insight had to carry out the political reform movement. Ensure the abundance of tax revenue and the stability of the empire.
Whether it is Wang Anshi's political reform or Zhang Reform, their goal is to limit the speed of land annexation by these greedy landlords through various means to ensure that most ordinary people can survive. We always say that the feudal dynasty represents the interests of the landlord class. Why do you say that?
Because under normal circumstances, the feudal dynasty government would not ban land merger activities, unless there was a serious land problem, it would take appropriate restrictive measures. The ruling class of the feudal dynasty was composed of the landlord class, and you let them cut their own interests. To tell the truth, no one but a saint can really make up his mind to harm his own interests.
At the beginning of the new dynasty, a large number of ownerless wasteland could be dominated by the new dynasty, and farmers returned to the land one after another. The income of the country has become stable. With the increase of population and income, it has entered a prosperous period, but this period is limited. When the population exceeds the land load, or the phenomenon of land annexation reappears, the country will enter a vicious circle again.