It is not surprising that the tomb door is as high as 157 cm, but besides the image of an old man, there are many words engraved on it. The image of the old man should have been carved later as part of the tomb. Those words, however, recorded the historical materials of the Eastern Han Dynasty. According to experts' speculation, it should be a stone tablet, but it became the tomb door after being used twice.
There are words on the stone tablet, which ordinary people may only find novel, but in the eyes of cultural relics workers, it is an inestimable treasure. Our understanding of history comes from written records, and the most important and extensive way is history books. However, there are too many human interference factors in paper records, which are easy to change. It is better to carve them on stones.
This is a writing carved on a stone, called the Eastern Han Dynasty Stone Tablet, which is a national first-class cultural relic. The full text of this stone tablet, because of wear and tear, has been impossible to verify, but it records various policies and is quite important.
As we know, the Han Dynasty was built on the ruins of the peasant war at the end of Qin Dynasty, and it was quite poor at first. After the "rule of Wenjing", the national strength of the Han Dynasty increased greatly and wealth accumulated more and more. However, in this process, the serious land annexation and the combination of powerful people have also laid a huge hidden danger and curse. However, the rulers at that time did not realize this at all. They adopted a policy of protecting the interests of big landlords, as evidenced by this stone tablet.
Several taxes are recorded on the stone tablet, including "oral tax", "excessive tax" and "nux vomica". Mouth tax is a poll tax, what's more, it is a man's service, and nux vomica is a tax to be paid for raising livestock. The records in the history books are not so rich. We only know that the land tax of thirty taxes and one tax was implemented in the early Han dynasty, and we don't know anything else. It is precisely because of the exorbitant taxes and levies that farmers who have no land and few fields can't afford it, so they can only rely on others, thus widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
Not only that, this stone tablet in the Eastern Han Dynasty also recorded the property of more than 20 local families in detail. The richest landlord, a family occupies more than 2000 acres of land, and so does the general public. The most ordinary family occupies 8 acres of land. In ancient times when productivity was extremely low, this was the level of food and clothing.
The stone tablet even recorded the price at that time. The price of an acre of land itself is not high. According to the fertility level, it only ranges from 500-2000 yuan. On the contrary, the value of a cow is high, about 1.5 million yuan. What's even more cruel is that handmaiden is the owner's private property, which can be clearly marked. It only costs 40,000 yuan, which is less than the price of three cows.
Cattle was extremely important in ancient times, especially in a farming society like China, and its price was understandably high. However, the price of handmaiden is incredibly low. The same people, such standard pricing, can also see how low their status is. So the landlord kept the handmaiden ingredients. Among the 20 households recorded in the inscription, 5 households have handmaiden, and 1 household has 7 handmaiden.
What exactly is this inscription? There is still debate at present. Some say it's a "book" carved by the government to check the land and real estate, and some say it's a certificate of separation of landlords. No matter what it is, it is really a treasure worth protecting. The meaning of words is much more important than those gold and silver jewelry.