食货志

The name comes from the 'eight concerns of government' in the 尚书 chapter 洪范, which begin with 食 'food', meaning farming and grain, and 货 'goods', meaning cloth, money and trade. The treatise covers land, taxes, famine relief, salt and iron and coinage, and most later histories kept it, such as the 旧唐书.

It quotes the memorials of Han statesmen, among them 晁错's complaint that taxes were levied at odd times and orders 朝令而暮改 'issued at dawn were changed by dusk', the root of 朝令夕改, and a warning against people who 弃本逐末 'leave the root for the branches', farming for trade, an early form of 舍本逐末.