The history of ancient China is, in fact, a history of the blood and tears of the lower-class people.
The chaotic times of the Five Barbarians and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms need not be mentioned; even in those unified dynasties, if you were born a commoner, your life would still be extremely difficult. So, comparatively speaking, which dynasty would be relatively happier to be born in?
First, let's talk about the Qin Dynasty. What comes to mind when you mention the Qin Dynasty? The first unification of the Huaxia nation, the same script and standardized carts, Qin Shi Huang conquered the six states and toured Mount Tai, achieving unprecedented accomplishments. The unification of the Qin Dynasty had many benefits and was of historical progressive significance. However, for the common people living in that era,
what they felt most deeply was probably the phrase from the "Records of the Grand Historian": "The world has long suffered from Qin!" As a person of the Qin Dynasty, there were endless corvée labor and countless wars. Since Ying Zheng transformed from King of Qin to the First Emperor, the numerous harsh laws and heavy taxes made the people of Qin live in fear and despair every day. The heavy labor, coupled with brutal punishments like amputating feet, gouging eyes, and cutting ears, led to countless Qin people being hanged on the roads or forced to flee.
The taxes in the Qin Dynasty were exorbitantly high. Dong Zhongshu said: "Qin used Shang Yang's methods to change the rule of emperors; the rich had fields connected, while the poor had no place to stand. Their taxes were 20 times that of ancient times, and the common people often wore clothes made of cattle and horses and ate food meant for dogs and pigs. How could the common people not suffer!"
Of course, Dong Zhongshu was not qualified to mock the Qin Dynasty; the Emperor Wu of Han, whom he assisted, was also a person who sought great achievements and was ruthless. Emperor Wu of Han waged wars against the Xiongnu, exhausted resources for personal enjoyment, and in his later years, he became superstitious, pursuing immortality, depleting manpower and wealth.
The wealth accumulated during the reign of Wen and Jing had long been squandered by him. To amass wealth, he first issued the decree of coinage, making the common people feel insecure and report on each other, turning most property owners into proletarians.
Then, he forced the common people to provide horses for the court, leading to countless people losing their families and homes because of horse-raising.
In that so-called prosperous era of "Those who offend our strong Han will be punished, no matter how far," there were actually two incidents of cannibalism due to famine. On one side, the common people watched the emperor and generals fight the Xiongnu and conquer the Western Regions, feeling proud; on the other side, they had to save money for this so-called great "prosperity," selling their children and eating tree bark and wild grass, even starving to death.
So, what benefits do the ambitions and grand plans of those in power bring to the ordinary common people below?
Next, let's talk about the Tang Dynasty. During the Zhenguan period, Li Shimin issued a decree prohibiting the common people from amputating their limbs to escape corvée labor, which shows how terrifying the corvée labor was in the Tang Dynasty. The title of "Heavenly Khan" for Li Shimin was not just a boast; it was earned through real battles. And during this process, who was bearing the burden for his peaceful years? During the Zhenguan period, it was extremely common for people to starve to death, even under the emperor's feet in the vicinity of Chang'an, where common people often starved to death at home or in the fields after paying taxes and having no money to buy food.
By the time of his great-grandson Li Longji's Kaiyuan era, it was merely a prosperous time for the powerful, completely unrelated to the common people. To embellish the strength of the nation, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang held grand banquets in front of the Wufeng Tower. However, Bai Juyi saw in the countryside that "this year in Jiangnan there was drought, and people in Quzhou resorted to cannibalism." If the country were truly as strong as Emperor Xuanzong saw, how could a mere Hu person from Anlu Mountain rally support and sweep through everything, directly attacking Huanglong? Since the Anshi Rebellion, the military coups of the Tang Dynasty's vassals and peasant uprisings have not ceased until the end of the Tang Dynasty, coupled with the occasional invasions from Tubo and Uighurs, one can imagine what kind of life the common people of the Tang Dynasty lived.
As for the Yuan Dynasty, it is even more unnecessary to mention; its so-called "tolerance" was aimed at the Mongolian aristocracy and Han landlords. The common Mongolian and Han people under Mongol rule could not enjoy the emperor's compassion. After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the common people cheered, while the landlords mourned as if they had lost their parents, for they could no longer find such a "wonderful" era.
Regarding the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they can be discussed together; apart from differences in hairstyles and clothing, these two dynasties are highly similar, representing the peak of feudal centralized rule in China. Zhu Yuanzhang's invention of the eight-legged essay stifled the limited thinking ability of the common people, and the literary inquisition he initiated was later carried to extremes by Qianlong, reaching a point where, from then on, not to mention eating, even speaking became a luxury. During the Ming Dynasty, due to heavy corvée labor and taxes, many people fled to the harsh lands outside the borders to survive. Although there were threats from Mongolian raiders, sandstorms, and wild beasts, there were no heavy taxes from the Ming Dynasty and no exploitation from cruel officials. In the Qing Dynasty, this situation replayed itself, with people moving eastward and westward out of desperation to survive.
Ancient China recorded 72 large-scale incidents of cannibalism, which means that an incident of "famine leading to cannibalism" occurred on average every 30 years.
The so-called prosperous eras in history were merely prosperous for the powerful. Praising "prosperity" and "the greatest emperor in history" is akin to a servant praising their master, chives praising the sickle, and cannon fodder praising the gunners. From the perspective of the common people, none of these so-called prosperous eras were truly prosperous for the people.
In 1329, Zhang Yanghao passed through Tongguan in Shaanxi, with the Yellow River roaring beneath his feet, gazing at Chang'an and Xianyang, reflecting on the vicissitudes of history, leaving behind a famous saying that has been passed down for thousands of years: "When the nation thrives, the common people suffer; when the nation falls, the common people suffer."
Mr. Lu Xun said: The common people are "the cattle and horses of prosperous times, the cannon fodder of chaotic times." What is better about "prosperous times" compared to chaotic times? "Chaotic times are when the common people want to be slaves but cannot; prosperous times are when they have temporarily stabilized as slaves."
"If the common people cannot enjoy the prosperity of prosperous times, but instead suffer because of it, what does such prosperity have to do with the common people?"