More than 2000 years ago, the Han Dynasty was in traffic jam
The Han Dynasty is one of the greatest times in Chinese history. "Those who commit crimes against the strong will be punished even though they are far away." at that time, the Chinese people were quite proud. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, a hundred wastes were waiting for prosperity. Qin Dynasty destroyed the six states, went north to conquer Xiongnu, went south to wipe out Baiyue, built the Great Wall, built Afang palace and built Qin Emperor's mausoleum, which consumed a lot of national strength. At the end of Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought for the world for another four years. Even when Liu Bang founded the people's Republic of China, "since the son of heaven could not afford to have a royal family, generals or generals could only ride an ox cart." even the emperor Liu Bang could not match four horses of the same color, and some generals could only ride an ox cart to the court. At this time, of course, there is no traffic congestion and there is no "traffic jam".
Because of the economic depression, the Han Dynasty adopted measures to encourage economic development. Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty "prohibited the use of land, paid less rent, and paid more tax for everything." Jia people were not allowed to take cars in clothes and silk, but paid more rent and tax to embarrass them. " ; Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty paid little taxes and took a rest with the people. "Except for half of the land rent and tax," he returned the land rent free one year. Take the lead in frugality and hard work ; Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty inherited his father's national policy and moralized the people. All officials went to the fields in person when farming, and took the lead in developing the country. After more than 70 years of hard work of three generations, in the later period of emperor Jingdi's reign, the economic situation of the country was finally improved, and the country was rich and the people were strong. "The capital is full of despicable people and Yu, and the surplus goods and wealth in the Treasury, the capital's huge amount of money, which is decadent but can't be educated, the millet in Taicang, the old and the old, are full of exposure and accumulation, so that corruption can't be eaten." how rich is it ? There was too much grain in the Treasury to eat, but the old grain was rotten ; The copper money in the Treasury is rotten because it has not been used for many years.
When the state has money and the people have money, they will naturally give priority to solving the problems of clothing, food, housing and transportation, and the "transportation" is one of them. Although the car was not invented at that time, the carriage was the most advanced means of transportation at that time. The emperor naturally matched the horses with the same coat color, and the generals didn't have to ride the ox cart. Not only the upper class got into the carriage, but the ordinary people also got "private driving". Moreover, many officials overstepped their authority to use luxury carriages. Some people "dress like the emperor" and dare to ride the same carriage as the emperor. Some people "car is not tired", the carriage did not reach the service life, on the replacement of a new car. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, merchants were not allowed to ride on chariots and horses. Later, this law was also in vain. Merchants "rode on chariots and traveled to the vassals for the benefit of merchants and merchants" and "looked at each other and took advantage of strength and wisdom" because they had money and were more powerful than others. As a result, the roads were filled with oxen, horses, chariots and carriages, resulting in traffic jams in the Han Dynasty. You know, at that time, there was no asphalt road. This "traffic jam" is much more disturbing than it is now.
The chariots of the Han Dynasty burned more oil
Now there is a slogan among the people that it is easier to buy a car than to keep one. Buy a car for one-time consumption, save some money to buy it. But to keep a car, you have to buy insurance, pay tolls, maintain it and repair it. The biggest cost is to burn oil. Compared with the present, is the consumption of carriages relatively low ?
Not really. Although the carriage doesn't burn oil, the horse eats grain and grass. How much grass does it eat ? Sima Qian said that "one horse makes a hundred gold". Does it sound very afraid? If we use grain to calculate, the cost of a luxury car is 1000 tons of grain a year, which is equivalent to 27000 Jin of grain now. Nearly 30000 Jin of grain, a "car", enough for a family of five to eat ten years. Therefore, in ancient times, it was not common people who could afford to keep a carriage.
So we can see that most of the people who can afford a carriage are officials and businessmen who are very rich. In the Han Dynasty, the annual salary of the vice ministry cadres was 2000 stone grain, which earned a lot. But if they wanted to keep a "luxury carriage", they needed to give half of their salary to feed their horses, which was not much more cost-effective than driving a car now. In order to raise cars and earn face, some honest officials even went to the point of "waste". It's a shame. In order to resist the state's policy of using cars, Gong Yu, a royal historian in the Han Dynasty, suggested to the emperor that two-thirds of the luxury cars should be reduced.
The Han Dynasty's "car restriction order" was more severe than today's
In order to solve the problem of traffic congestion, the imperial court had to find a way to solve it. One is to levy a "vehicle and horse tax" to restrict people from buying a car. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it was stipulated that in addition to military vehicles and official vehicles, people would pay taxes when they took the bus. How much would they pay ? A "horsepower" civil car pays 120 yuan of tax for every 2000 yuan ; A "horsepower" business car, double taxes, every two thousand dollars to pay taxes 240 dollars. This may be the purchase tax in the Han Dynasty. If you evade taxes, the Han Dynasty's treatment is also very strict, "evade taxes on vehicles and horses, confiscate the owner's vehicles and family property, and confiscate the army for one year". Not only did you confiscate the vehicles and horses, but also your family property, and you should be sentenced to one year's imprisonment. The laws against tax evasion in the Han Dynasty were much stricter than they are now.
The second is to put forward the slogan of "saving cars and public places". In the book on salt and iron, it is said that "today's descendants of Gongqing officials are able to save cars and public places, suit their clothes, be thrifty, be honest, strike gardens and ponds, damage fields and houses, have nothing to do inside or outside the city, have nothing to do outside the mountains and rivers, have their contributions from farmers, and have their jobs from female workers ; If so, then Qi and pulse are peaceful, and there is no shortage of gathering. "This is what happened during the reign of emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty, and" saving cars "means restricting the use of vehicles. Of course, this slogan was not fully implemented in that affluent era, because extravagance prevailed from top to bottom. For the rich, who would choose green travel in that era ? Like Deng Tong, flaunting wealth is almost the same.
Therefore, although the Imperial Court adopted many measures to restrict cars, it did not change the traffic congestion in the Han Dynasty. One of the reasons for this was that the country was rich at that time and people had the desire to take a bus ; Second, the country is recuperating and the population is surging ; Third, the road was narrow at that time, not as spacious as it is now ; Fourth, the state stipulates what level of officials must be equipped with what kind of special bus, and it is against the state system not to take a bus to work. All in all, the traffic jam in the Han Dynasty is reasonable.
