武帝の財政增收政策と郡・國・縣

Abstract

At the time when Emperor Wudi 武帝 of the Western Han adopted the Increased Levies Policies, the commanderies and states 郡國 were strengthening their control. At the same time the centre of local government was moving away from the counties 縣 towards the commanderies and states. Considering these facts it seems that because the commanderies and states were in charge of managing the increased levies policies they had strengthened their control. However in reality, most parts of the increased levies policies were controlled by the central government and by government offices under its direct control. Therefore the commanderies and states, and counties played no more than a complementary role in the management of these policies. The reasons why the counties, commanderies and states generally did not occupy government offices in charge of the increased levies policies are three fold. Firstly, the financial circumstances of the Wudi period demanded an efficient centralised storage of cereals, grains and other riches. Secondly, certain attitudes formed in the early Western Han that most of the contemporary chief government officials 長吏 of the counties had, prevented them from fully understanding the intention of the nations policies. Since they could not change their attitudes they would not be able to successfully manage these policies. Thirdly, the commanderies and states in performing their duties had few chances to co-operate with others outside their borders. As they were not familiar with the policies, and the pre-requisites necessary to implement these policies could not be satisfied by the existing relationships within the commanderies and states, they would not be able to successfully manage these policies. The central governments expectation that many contradictions caused by implementing the increased levies policies could be solved by the commanderies and states, was a factor in the strengthening of the power of the commanderies and states.