Except for antique cultural relics with special political significance, other things belong to whoever digs them out. For example, these gold cakes belong to the discoverer, Comrade Wang Wu. The imperial court will not force collection, nor will local governments be allowed to force collection. Fully protect the private property of the people.
In September of the same year, an edict was issued stating that from now on, all thieves should be convicted in accordance with the law, and property should not be confiscated at will. Good governance benefits the people and benefits prisoners.
At the end of the same year, the heavy snow continued for nearly two months, and Luoyang City turned into a city of ice and snow. Shi Jingtang looked at the vast white sky and had no intention of appreciating the snow scenery, let alone the pleasure of reciting poems and composing poems. He said to his ministers with a sad look on his face: "The heavy snow has harmed the people, and it has not stopped for fifty years. We have ordered all the temples in the capital to pray for clear weather. But it still doesn’t work. Could it be that my virtue is not enough and God wants to punish me?”
The ministers on the left and right hurriedly consoled him, "Your Majesty is wise, I and others deserve death for their sins."
When encountering a natural disaster, the emperor should pray to God. If it doesn't work, he will issue an edict to punish himself, express his repentance to God devoutly, and pray that God will only punish himself and not implicate innocent people. Zhu Youzhen was like this.
Now, facing the snow disaster, Shi Jingtang also expressed the same emotion, thinking that he did not do a good enough job and caused the people to suffer.
Therefore, Shi Jingtang ordered to distribute firewood, charcoal, food, etc. to the Forbidden Army soldiers and the poor people in the capital to help them tide over the difficulties.
A few days later, on the first day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Tianfu (940), Shi Jingtang ordered that all the public and private debts owed by Tianfu three years ago should be written off;
In April, Luoyang, Chang'an and others were ordered to stop paying tribute to melons and fruits, "to show mercy to the hardworking people".
In February of the sixth year of Tianfu (941), the salaries of the officers and soldiers of the Forbidden Army were collectively increased. The salary of officers at the general level was originally 30,000 yuan per month, but now it has been increased to 50,000 yuan;
An edict was issued in March that all summer and autumn taxes owed by the people before last year would be exempted;
In April, a famine broke out in what is now Shandong Province, and the three prefectures of Yan, Yun, and Qing were ordered to open granaries and release grain to help the hungry people;
In August, the people's tax arrears were reduced and exempted again, and Tianfu's tax arrears from five years ago were all written off.
In February of the seventh year of Tianfu (942), an edict was issued to encourage land reclamation in Deng, Tang, Sui, Ying and other prefectures in Henan. Anyone who reclaimed wasteland would be exempted from taxes for five years.
Amnesty, tax reduction and exemption, various measures to benefit the people, etc., Shi Jingtang's attitude towards the people was comparable to that of Emperor Mingzong Li Siyuan. However, Li Siyuan created the "prosperous age of Mingzong" for the Five Dynasties, but Shi Jingtang failed to leave the evaluation of "the prosperous age of Tianfu". Why is this?
To be fair, Shi Jingtang really doesn't know what he's doing. During his years as emperor, various natural disasters gathered together. Natural disasters and the use of troops for many years made Shi Jingtang act like Li Siyuan, but he did not receive praise from Mingzong.
3. Natural disasters
The house leaked and it rained all night. Ever since Shi Jingtang ascended the throne, there has been no good year.
Shi Jingtang proclaimed himself emperor in November 936 and took control of Luoyang in November. Although the "First Year of Tianfu" only lasted for more than two months, God did not dislike the poor and favored the rich, and still generously gave a drought:
"There has been no rain since autumn and no snow since winter." Shi Jingtang ordered all civil and military officials to pray for rain and snow.
In the second year of Tianfu (937):
——On the first day of the first lunar month, there is a solar eclipse. This is not a "natural disaster", but we have said before that during the feudal period, the "solar eclipse" had a huge mental impact on the feudal rulers. Shi Jingtang was quite unhappy, so he came up with a very clever way to deal with it - modify the calendar.
According to the records in "Records of Emperor Gaozu", "On the first month of the first lunar month, there will be a solar eclipse on Jiayinshuo and Yimao." This means that a solar eclipse will occur on the second day of the first lunar month. "History of the Old Five Dynasties" adopted this statement.
The "Spring and Autumn Period of the Ten Kingdoms" and "Annals of the Ten Kingdoms" clearly point out that this year is "Yimao and Shuo of the first lunar month, and the sun has an eclipse." In other words, the first day of the first lunar month of this year is Yimao, not Jiayin. . It also clearly pointed out that officials of the later Jin Dynasty tampered with the calendar, "because the Jin people avoided the solar eclipses in three dynasties and changed the calendar."
As mentioned before, a solar eclipse occurred on the first day of the first lunar month in the first year of Zhu Wen's reign. Some people said that the eclipse on the first day of the first lunar month in the last years of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty was very unlucky, so "Liang Zu hated it very much." Now that Shi Jingtang had just ascended the throne, a solar eclipse occurred on the first day of the first lunar month during the first Spring Festival, so he was very unhappy.
In addition to tampering with the calendar, the officials of the Si Tianjian also presented the "good news" in a far-fetched way: the sun was only covered by 30% (three out of every ten days), and it was gradually replenished, and it was fully restored at 6 o'clock in the morning. (It grows gradually and reaches fullness at Mao time).
A solar eclipse, a solar eclipse on the first day of the first lunar month, is not considered a natural disaster because it has no direct impact on people's production and life and does not disrupt agricultural order. It only counts as causing trouble for the rulers.
——In April, there was a slight drought in Luojing, Weizhou and other places, as mentioned above;
——In June, Xiangzhou reported: The river rose one foot or two feet;
——In August, Huazhou reported: The Wei River overflowed, damaging crops;
——In September, Bei and Wei states reported that the Yellow River was overflowing and damaging crops;
——In December, there was once again lack of sufficient precipitation, so Shi Jingtang personally went to Xiangguo Temple to pray for snow.
Tianfu three years (938):
——On the first day of the first lunar month, there is another double solar eclipse. However, this solar eclipse only stayed at the theoretical level. According to Si Tianjian's observation and calculation, a solar eclipse was going to occur on this day. However, it did not actually happen. So hundreds of officials came to the court to congratulate, and Shi Jingtang held a grand ceremony. Wei, received congratulations from hundreds of officials in Chongyuan Hall.
——In August, Xiangzhou reported: The water in the Han River rose by one foot and one foot;
——Drought in Hezhongfu, Tongzhou, Jiangzhou and other places;
——In September, Xiangzhou reported: The water in the Han River rose three feet, and the embankments burst, damaging crops; Luoyang reported: The water in Luoyang rose ten feet and five feet, damaging the pontoon bridge;
——In October, Xiangzhou reported: The river overflowed and damaged crops;
——In November, Xiangzhou reported: Fire destroyed more than a thousand residential buildings.
Tianfu fourth year (939):
——In June, Luoyang was hit by a violent storm, and "all the roof tiles flew off, and all the owl kisses were broken." The "evil kiss" is the decoration on the roof ridge of large-scale buildings in ancient times, and the scroll-tailed dragon head.
——On July 1st, there was a solar eclipse, floods occurred in Luoyang, the city was seriously flooded, and the Tianjin bridge was washed away;
——On August 1, the Yellow River burst in Boping County (now in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province), and floods broke out in Ganling County (now in Xingtai City, Hebei Province);
——At the end of the year, it snowed heavily for more than 50 days in a row. Temples in the capital, large and small, tried to pray for clear weather, but to no avail.
In Tianfu's fifth year (940), only this year was barely safe, but then God made arrangements for him.
Tianfu sixth year (941):
——In the first month of the year, Qingzhou: The sea was frozen for more than a hundred miles;
——In April, famine broke out in Qi and Lu;
——In May, Jingzhou reports: Heavy rain and hail, rivers overflowing, bad state counties and 24 cities garrisoned;
——In September, the Yellow River in Huazhou burst. People helped the elderly and children to climb to higher ground and were trapped by the flood. As a result, more people died of starvation than drowned. The floods moved all the way to the east, and Yanzhou reported that "the water came from the west and destroyed the autumn crops." How serious was this flood? According to Yanzhou's report, "the river flows eastward and is seventy miles wide";
