University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XIV

THE RATIO OF PRODUCTION[1]

a. Then advanced one of the secretaries who said: Formerly, when
T'ai Kung was enfeoffed at Ying Ch'iu,[2] he had to clear away the
jungle before settling down. The land being poor and the population
sparse, he developed the ways and means of benefiting secondary
pursuits, and he encouraged to the limit the weaving industry, with
such success that the neighboring states began trade with Ch'i;
and Ch'i, accumulating capital and increasing the production of
goods, became a stronger state with every succeeding generation.
When Kuan Chung became Chancellor to Duke Huan, he followed
the policy of Ch'i's former ruler, and so manipulated the ratio of
production that he forced the submission of mighty Ch'u in the
south, and won the protectorate over the feudal lords for his master.[3]

b. His Excellency, the Minister,[4] has adopted at the present time
the policies of T'ai Kung and Kuan Chung. He has put salt and
iron under unified control, developed the profits from mountains
and seas, so that the production of goods is on the increase. Thus
the Government has ample and rich revenues, and people suffer no

distress or need. Both the fundamental and the secondary industries
are benefited, and all classes are well provided for. All this has
been achieved by budgeting and accounting, not by concentrating
on the rural occupations, the cultivation of mulberries and grain
fields, alone.

c. The Literati: the rules of ceremonial and the social duties[5]
are the foundation of a nation, but the lust for power and profit
are the bane of administration. Is a prince able to rule his country
with courtesy and deference, — then what difficulty will he have?[6]
said Confucius. While I Yin and T'ai Kung exalted high their
ruler with a territory of but a hundred li, Kuan Chung, enjoying
the full confidence[7] of Duke Huan, could not attain Imperial sway
even with power of a thousand chariots, all because he engaged
himself in wrongful enterprises. Hence his achievements and fame
fell to the ground, and he never succeeded in making his policies prevail.
At his time, none of the feudal lords could make use of virtue.
They were competing with each other both in public and private
matters, and sought thus to undermine one another by power.

d. But now that the united Empire forms one big family, why
should you wish to make the profits from secondary pursuits prevail,
and spread luxury and sophistication? His Excellency, the Lord
Grand Secretary,[8] having calculated all the state revenue in his
head,[9] has already incurred the denunciations of the feudal lords,
on account of his liquor excise. Hsien-yang and K'ung Chin have
now swelled [the revenues] with their salt and iron monopoly. In
company with Chiang Ch'ung and Kêng Ku-chih,[10] always keen
and sharp-witted in discussing matters of secondary profits, they

have split hairs[11] so thoroughly that, it might be said indeed, they
have not left a single outlet. They certainly did not limit themselves
to establishing the Nine Bureaux,[12] and mustering the profits of
mountains and seas, as Kuan Chung did. Yet the nation passes now
through a period of depression, and the cities are deserted. There
is no other way to educate the people outside of exalting benevolence
and social duty; and no other means of enriching the realm apart from
applying oneself to the development of agriculture, the fundamental
industry.

e. The Secretary: The fish in the pond are agitated when otters
appear in the water.[13] With powerful recalcitrants among the nation,
the common people's livelihood declines. Thus, there cannot be
luxuriant herbage beneath a flourishing forest. Nor can grain sprout
prettily between great clumps of earth. The principle of governing
a country consists in removing the noxious and hoeing out the
unruly. Only then will the people enjoy equal treatment, and find
satisfaction under their own roofs. Justice Chang[14] codified the laws
and statutes; published them to give a common standard to the
Empire; executed the evil and the crafty, and exterminated those
fellows who organized combines. As a consequence, the strong could
not take advantage of the weak, and the many could not ill-treat the
few. His Excellency[15] has busied himself with statistical calculations
to increase the state revenue. The resources of salt and iron are
monopolized in order to put down the rich traders and big merchants.
Offices are offered for sale and criminals may buy themselves off,
thus taking from those who have, to aid the needy,[16] in the interest

of equality among the Black-Haired People. Consequently, in spite
of the fact that our armies made expeditions east and west, expenditures
were well provided for without increasing the levies and taxes.
Arithmetic[17] is perceived only by the talented and not understood
by the multitude.

f. The Literati: Pien Ch'iao[18] diagnosed the cause of a disease
by merely feeling the pulse of the patient. Where the positive
fluid was over-developed, he would lessen it to harmonize with the
negative.[19] When the cold fluid was predominant, he would subdue
it to harmonize the positive. Consequently the vital fluid and the
pulse were harmonized and balanced, and evil influences were unable
to remain. The inferior physician does not know the lines of artery
and vein, or the difference between the blood and the vital fluid.
He stabs in his needle blindly without any effect on the disease,
and only injures the skin and flesh. Now [the Government] desires
to subtract from the superabundant to add to the needy. And yet
the rich grow richer, and the poor grow poorer. Severe laws and
penalties are intended to curb the tyrannical and suppress malefactors.
Yet the wicked still persist. Possibly these measures differ from
the way Pien Ch'iao used his acupuncture and probing, and hence
the multitude have not felt their salutary effect.

g. The Secretary: When Chou established the Empire, there
were probably a thousand and eight hundred feudal barons. Later
on, the strong swallowed the weak, and the large engulfed the small,
with the result that there were formed Six States.[20] These Six

States fought with one another, settling their scores. For several
hundreds of years, they fought at home as enemy states, and beyond
the frontiers stood off the surrounding barbarians. Thus it is seen
that their armies never rested and fighting never diminished. Yet
while the troops kept aloft their standards at the front, the
storehouses and treasuries in the interior remained full.

h. Now, with the resources of the Empire, the wealth within the
seas, and the tribute from the hundred commanderies, we possess
not merely the food reserves of Ch'i and Ch'u, or the warehouses
of Chao and Wei.[21] Calculating provisions and estimating income,
there should be no needy moment even in times of urgency. Should
the whole Ministry of Finance throw themselves body and soul into
practicing farming personally in imitation of the illustrious example
of Hou Chi,[22] the armies sent out in the four directions would still
be without [a guarantee of] continuous supplies. This is not because
Nature provides us only meager wealth. Nor is it merely a matter
of employing "surgical instruments," equalizing surplus and want,
or subsidizing the needy.

i. But when His Excellency, the Minister, in his capacity of Grain
Intendant,[23] took over the administration of the Imperial treasurey,
with his "needle pricks" and "cauterizing" he stimulated the stagnant
flow of wealth, and opened up the pulsing sources of profit along
the hundred arteries. As a result all commodities were circulated,
and the Government got substantial revenue. At that time, expeditions
were sent in four directions against the rebellious and disorderly.
The expenses for chariots and armor, and the rewards for conquests
and captives, were estimated by billions.[24] All, however, was supplied

by the Treasury. This is certainly an effect like that of Pien Ch'iao
and the boon of the salt and iron monopoly.

j. The Literati: The people in the frontier districts dwell among
mountains and valleys, where yin and yang are not in accord[25] and
freezing cold cracks the earth. The swirling winds raise storms of
acrid dust. Sand and gravel heap up in dunes, and the land in its
lay is fit for naught. On the other hand, the Middle Kingdom stands
at the center of the Universe[26] at the merging point of yin and yang.
The orbits of sun and moon pass to the south. The mansion of the
Dipper and the Pole appear out of the north.[27] The land comprises
a variety of harmoniously blending climates, and produces all manner
of things. To abandon these as we are doing, and seek for conquests
beyond the frontier in an attempt to expand more into the sterile
land of bitter cold, is like forsaking the fertile valleys of the
rivers and banks of the streams, to till on the uplands or in the
reedy marshes.

k. The stores of the granaries are trundled out, and the riches
of the treasuries scattered to the winds, that the needs of the
frontinersmen may be met. The Middle Kingdom is in the throes of
forced labor and levies,[28] while the frontiersmen are beset by garrison
duties. While people toil at their cultivation, to obtain grain either
by growing or buying is inconvenient. Without the benefit of
mulberry trees and hemp growing, they are forced to look to the
homeland for their stuffs for clothing. Coats of skins and haircloth
are never enough to cover their persons. They cannot discard their

doublets in the summer,[29] nor dare they leave their caves in the
winter. Fathers and sons, husbands and wives live crowded in one
room with mud walls. With both the central and the outlying
districts depleted, what effect have your so-called Pien Ch'iao's
methods had; from the salt and iron monopoly what boon?