Imperial Tallies (Daxia): Difference between revisions

When a nation lost a war with [[Daxia]] it was typical for it to enter into a tributary arrangement with the Daxians. The defeated monarch was made to travel to the capital before a group of imperial bureaucrats and there, he would have to engage in a negotiation to determine what goods and how many of said goods he would have to submit as tribute in order to keep his crown. From surviving sources, the format of the negotiation was not very formal and rulers were encouraged to haggle (as a form of ritual humilliation) and try to get better terms. The terms of the negotiation (which never were disadvantageous to Daxia) were then written down on the scrolls and sent to the Hall of Tributaries.

At the start of the year all of the subject peoples and nations would send small delegations to Daguo. The delegates would ritually prostrate themselves and submit gifts to the Imperial court, then they would ask permission to review their obligations on the imperial tallies. Each nation had its own personalized scroll and a scribe that would read it to the delegation accompanied by music. The tallies were updated annually even if a tributary was in open rebellion, so that when they were forced back into the imperial fold they returned in arrears. If a tributary acquired new territories, a team of auditors was sent to inspect what new materials and industries would be added to the tallies for the next year. Earlier dynasties like the Xie and Shang took their tribute in goods ranging from horses, jugs of wine and milk to forged weapons and slaves, seeing offerings of coin as vulgar. The Qian dynasty however only accepted tribute in coins made of precious metals or in high value goods such as gems and spices.