The Establishment of a "Military Meritocracy" in the early Former Han Period : The Imperial Edict in the 5th year of Emperor Gao-di

Abstract

"The Imperial Edict in the 5th year of Emperor Gao-di "(「高帝五年詔」) was a very important decree in the early Former Han Period (前漢). The author has done textual research of the Edict in detail. As a result, this paper has shown that the Former Han government gave military officials and soldiers many titles of nobility in accordance with the Edict, and at the same time gave cultivated land and curtilage land according to the stipulation for records in the Han Military Code (漢軍法) in the early Former Han Period. The Han Military Code was set up by Han Xin (韓信), a famous general of Liu Bang (劉邦). In the district of Hanzhong (漢中), in the period from April to August of the first year of the Han Dynasty he issued the Military Code based on the Qin Military Code (秦軍法). The author estimates that Liu Bang's army totaled about 600 thousand persons at the time "the Imperial Edict in the 5th year of Emperor Gao-di" was issued. In accordance with the Edict, all military officials and soldiers were given the 5th grade noble status, at the same time a military person with such status could obtain 500 mu (畝) of cultivated land and 25 mu of curtilage land in accordance with the Military Code. Given 600 thousand military personel, 300 million mu of cultivated land and 15 million mu of curtilage land were granted. This amount of land equaled 40 percent of the total amount of cultivated land in the Former Han Period. Furthermore, the 600 thousand military officials and soldiers made up about 4 percent of the total population at the time. However, including family members the military accordance for 3 million people, or 20 percent of the total population. In conclusion, because of the "Imperial Edict in the 5th year of Emperor Gao-di" and aseries of other relevant laws and regulation a new social stratum would have been formed in the early Former Han Period, if all these laws were thoroughly implemented. This stratum, based on military meritocracy, had decisive political strength, strong economic power and high social status. It created the Former Han Dynasty and supported the dynasty for a long period of time.