Abstract
Before the sixth month of the sixth year of Yuan Shuo 元朔 (128 BCE), Emperor Wu 武帝 (r. 140-87 BCE) of the Western Han sent numerous military expeditions against the Xiongnu 匈奴; this led to an inability to financially compensate his commanders for their success in battle. The Chamberlain for the National Treasury (danong ling 大農令), Zheng Zhuang 鄭莊, used the desire of people to obtain a higher social status by imitating the system of the Zhou honorary system. He established a twenty-rank social class hierarchy (jungong jue 軍功爵), and then proposed the eleven ranks of the ennobled military hierarchy (wugong jue 武功爵). This was a way to turn fixing the financial deficit into an opportunity—with some conditions applied—for people to climb the social ladder.
In order to adapt to the needs of the era, the twenty-rank social hierarchy derived from the Zhou became different than the eleven ranks of the ennobled military hierarchy. This was because the conditions of obtaining such titles were limited to bringing the head of an enemy or capturing prisoners of war. These decapitated heads and captured prisoners could be exchanged for titles within the first eight ranks of the hierarchy, which were equal to the military titles of the tenth social class.
This led to a gradual amalgamation of money and power. Wealthy people could purchase a place in the hierarchy and interfere with real power in the government. They could influence the government’s financial system for their own benefit. They could also extend their local power in the county as well. Putting a price on the lower eight ranks of the ennobled military hierarchy led to the depreciation of the hierarchy as well as other disadvantages.
After Emperor Zhao 昭帝 (r. 87-74 BCE) of Han, wars became fewer, so opportunities for presenting enemy heads and prisoners likewise greatly declined. The outlay on rewarding military merit dropped steeply until the state financial deficit was resolved. When the demand for enemy heads as well as prisoners of war greatly decreased in the fourth year of Yuan Kang 元康 (62 BCE), even though Emperor Xuan 宣帝 (r. 74-48 BCE) did not abolish the ennobled military hierarchy, it gradually became obsolete and was abandoned, existing in name only until the end of the Western Han.
Keywords
Western Han Dynasty, Twenty-rank social class hierarchy, Eleven ranks of ennobled military hierarchy, Statutes and Ordinances of the Second Year (Ernian Lüling), enemy heads, prisoners of war
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