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[Explaining the issue of inflated population registers during the Wu Zhou period is rather complicated. Here, we will only cite a single household registration record from the year 701.
According to the "Household Register of Xiaogu Village, Dunhuang County, Shazhou, First Year of Dazu," it records the following:
Fuhan Tuntun, deceased shortly after the census in the third year of Shengli.
His eldest son, Changming, deceased shortly after the census in the third year of Shengli.
His father, Shi, deceased shortly after the census in the second year of Shengli.
His mother, Si, deceased shortly after the census in the third year of Shengli.
The contents of this record are simple. A man named Fuhan Tuntun from Dunhuang, along with his eldest son and both parents, all died not long after the population census.
This record was excavated from the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang. Alongside it was another unearthed document, Otani Manuscript No. 2835, titled "Directive of the Household Recovery Commissioner, Third Year of Chang'an of Zhou, Together with the Dunhuang County Report," which further reveals the realities of this household recovery campaign.
The document itself is lengthy and will not be quoted in full. However, it reflects two major issues. First, local officials in Shazhou were unwilling to cooperate with the household recovery commissioners.
The reason lay in the second issue. The commissioners demanded that all escaped households be forcibly returned to their original places of registration.
Faced with local resistance, the commissioners attributed the obstruction to people being "lured and deceived by their masters," further claiming that "the common people of Gan, Liang, Gua, and Su prefectures collude with escaped households, falsely claiming existing registration," making enforcement impossible.
In truth, under a feudal system, the logic is obvious. Anyone who had become an escaped household had clearly been unable to survive where they originally lived.
If, after relocating, such households had managed to put down roots, they had likely married, raised children, and acquired land and property. Forcing them to abandon everything and return to a place where they once had nothing was plainly inhumane.
Against the backdrop of Wu Zetian's declining reputation, in the ninth year of Kaiyuan, Li Longji appointed Yuwen Rong to take charge of household recovery.
Yuwen Rong no longer forced escaped households to return. Instead, he allowed them to register locally. Not only were they exempted from land tax for five years, but during those five years they paid only a head tax of fifteen hundred coins annually.
Even as late as the sixteenth year of Kaiyuan, Li Longji was still issuing edicts requesting that escaped households be resettled in frontier regions, where they would be granted fertile land and long-term tax privileges.]
"This Xuanzong… really does not compare," Li Shimin muttered.
He shook his head. At this moment, he understood even more deeply the lamentations of later generations. After thinking it over, however, he found it inappropriate to curse his descendants outright, and could only laugh helplessly, his emotions tangled and conflicted.
Empress Zhangsun did not dwell on such thoughts. She was simply moved by the subject of household recovery itself. In times of chaos, she had seen countless families dragging their children across thousands of li, all for the chance to survive.
Imagine laboring for years to clear land and build a home, life finally improving, only for officials to arrive and declare you an escaped household, ordering you back to your place of origin, at best granting a few years of tax remission. The thought alone was unbearable.
Nearby, Du Ruhui found his interest drawn once more to the Mogao Caves.
From what they had seen so far, the Mogao Caves had yielded paintings of the Guiyi Army, administrative documents from the Hexi region, and Buddhist sutra manuscripts, an astonishing variety.
"How exactly were these caves sealed," Du Ruhui wondered aloud, "that paper and silk could survive for a thousand years without decay?"
Fang Xuanling was unconvinced.
"Rather than praising the skill of the cave builders," he said, "it would be more accurate to praise the ingenuity of later restoration methods."
He still remembered the mural of Zhang Yichao they had seen. Without modern restoration, he would never have believed it was the same painting.
"If nothing else," Du Ruhui said optimistically, "even leaving behind weathered walls for future generations would be better than having nothing but ruins."
He even planned to seek out temple monks later, to ask whether such preservation techniques might exist.
Fang Xuanling nodded, then set the matter aside. After reviewing the notes he had copied down, he said thoughtfully,
"It seems the issue of inflated population figures is very likely connected to these household recovery campaigns."
Shazhou, after all, clearly lacked manpower and would have welcomed escaped households with open arms.
By retaining fictitious registered households, officials could even allow escaped households to temporarily farm the land and pay taxes in their stead.
No wonder local officials resented the household recovery commissioners so strongly. Frontier regions faced constant external threats, and population was a critical concern.
Seen in this light, Yuwen Rong's census did have the side effect of curbing powerful clans.
After a moment's reflection, Fang Xuanling grew even more convinced.
If population surveys were conducted properly, they could suppress powerful families, prevent land annexation, benefit the common people, allow livelihoods to recover, and ensure the longevity of the state.
"Perhaps," he proposed, "the Ministry of Revenue could establish permanent census commissioners, dispatched every few years to tour the prefectures, reform household registers, and inspect land holdings. This could become a truly beneficial policy."
During the Wude era, the Retired Emperor had indeed ordered household checks, but they amounted to little more than having local governments submit population reports for central review. Even then, the力度 was weaker than under the Sui.
The Sui dynasty's census efforts were also inferior to those of the Wu Zhou period. During the Kaihuang era, officials like Linghu Xi and Qifu Hui merely toured parts of Hedong and Shandong. They were nothing like the Wu Zhou practice of sending household recovery commissioners across the entire realm.
With Fang Xuanling's explanation, Du Ruhui understood at once and even grew excited.
"These household recovery commissioners represent the central authority touring the empire to govern all under Heaven!"
Kongming was equally quick to grasp the significance.
In his mind, a blueprint was already taking shape.
Once the realm was unified, appoint circuit inspectors with authority over promotion and demotion to cleanse officialdom. Then dispatch household recovery commissioners to tour the Nine Provinces, uncover hidden households and concealed land.
How could the people not recover and prosper?
Pang Tong, meanwhile, was struck by another warning.
The later generations praised Wu Zhou's civil governance, claiming that "Wu Zetian" placed unprecedented emphasis on literary talent.
Yet look at the plight of the Poet Immortal Li Bai. Look at the ugly conduct of the petty man Song Zhiwen. Literary brilliance did not equate to administrative competence.
In this year's imperial examinations in Chang'an, Pang Tong resolved to advise his lord. What the examinations should select were not men skilled only in ornate prose, but officials capable of real governance.
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[Beyond this, Wu Zetian left behind many political liabilities.
Although she established the anonymous examination system, the primary method of appointing officials during the Wu Zhou period remained selection by recommendation. The civil examinations never truly flourished in this era.
Because of the inherent disadvantage of being a female emperor, Wu Zetian spared no cost in rapidly promoting officials loyal to herself in order to dilute the lingering influence of the Li-Tang court. This directly corrupted the selection system.
Furthermore, her early years on the throne were marked by excessive extravagance, leading to severe fiscal problems by the middle of the Wu Zhou period. More than one chancellor's memorial complained that "state funds are insufficient."
Another major factor was the Khitan rebellion defeating Wu Zhou forces, followed by the Turkic Khagan exploiting the chaos to strike Hebei hard, carrying off immense quantities of silk, livestock, and captives from prefectures such as Zhao, Ding, Heng, and Yi.
As a result, the late Wu Zhou period saw a series of desperate fiscal measures. Pasture offices were established in Deng and Lai, slaves were purchased in Jiangling, market checkpoints were added to tax merchants, and cattle and sheep were forcibly purchased in Hebei. These market purchases, especially the malicious price suppression and forced transactions, were widely criticized by officials as competing with the people for profit, revealing the dynasty's financial distress.
Even the granaries intended for disaster relief quietly became hollow shells.
"Public and private finances grew strained, relief granaries were gradually borrowed against. After Emperor Zhongzong's Shenlong era, the relief granaries of the realm were nearly exhausted."
"During the reigns of Empress Wu, Emperor Xiaohé, Princess Taiping, Wu Sansi, and the rebellious commoners, unrestrained extravagance led to wasted agriculture and emptied treasuries."
From this perspective, Li Longji truly had it hard, forced to clean up after many predecessors.
But to call Empress Wu a foolish ruler would be far from accurate.
As noted earlier, even Di Renjie had urged A-Wu to adopt strategic retrenchment, abandoning the Western Regions and Liaodong.
Yet she stubbornly maintained the Anxi Protectorate and the defenses of Hexi and Longyou. That deserves recognition.
Throughout her reign, Wu Zetian's struggle stemmed from the lack of legitimate dynastic authority caused by her gender. Though domestic governance had many flaws, she adhered to her own principles and was far removed from the image of a benighted ruler. In this respect, the Zizhi Tongjian offers a fair summary:
"She used rank and salary to win the hearts of the people. Those who proved unfit were soon dismissed or punished. By wielding rewards and punishments, she controlled the realm, with power issuing from herself alone."
Moreover, Wu Zetian was already sixty-seven when she ascended the throne. Decline with age was inevitable. Even so, her performance was relatively outstanding.
After all, as anyone who has studied history knows,
While emperors like Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han pushed the upper limits, the undeniable truth is that, for thousands of years, the vast majority of emperors have been busy showing off the lower limits.
A classic example is Liu Shan. Simply following established procedures already put him ahead of eighty percent of emperors.]