Three Kingdoms

If Pang Tong is not smart, I am afraid there are not many smart people in the world. This realization can be regarded as a somewhat depressing conclusion reached after Wei Duan and Du Ji fought with Pang Tong openly and secretly.

Today's young people...

Wei Duan and Du Ji looked at each other, then handed over the final result. "I reported to Pang Shijun. After investigation, it was found that 37 households had overreported their real estate. According to the law, 16,380 acres of land were confiscated and fined 151,400 taels..."

"Well..." Pang Tong took the list, looked at it slowly, and then motioned for Wei Duan and Du Ji to sit down.

Wei Duan and Du Ji could guess with their toes that the so-called fire in the pavilion was a trap. After the two exchanged glances, they were somewhat glad that they had not done anything rash, otherwise they would have been on the list now. One member.

As for the losses of fellow Taoists...

It's already time to show mercy, okay?

It turned out that at the beginning, Wei Duan and Du Ji were so scared that they even thought that there would be another big purge. However, they did not expect that Pang Tong was raised high, but the force of the fall was not that strong. At least they did not confiscate their homes and exterminate their clans. Although it was also a strain on their muscles and bones, causing the wealth of these thirty-seven families to shrink by at least two-thirds, at least they are still alive, which is somewhat lucky.

"Well, that's it..." Pang Tong put the list on the side of the table, then reached out for tea and said casually, "Come, you two try this tartary buckwheat tea... This was developed by General Zhengxi himself. A new type of tea, regular drinking can clear the mind and cleanse the stomach, make people lighten their bodies and keep them healthy..."

"Thank you, Commander Pang." Wei Duan and Du Ji quickly picked up their tea bowls, took a few sips, and praised each other.

Pang Tong laughed a few times, and then said with a smile: "The measurement and report of the land of Sanfu has been completed. At a certain time, we will appoint people to inspect the city and declare it in the fields to make people aware of the land and make the land belong to the people..."

The corners of Wei Duan's eyes couldn't help but twitch, and he almost spilled the tea soup he was holding.

Du Ji coughed slightly and said: "Pang Shijun, why not send some civil servants to patrol the city... Most of them are not literate. If you miss the job, it will inevitably be bad..."

The city patrols were all made up of veterans who had been disabled and retired from the army, including General Fei Qian of Zhengxi. They also received General Zhengxi's salary and land. They were really the troops directly related to General Zhengxi. They couldn't pour water or salt. Eat, if these people are really allowed to go to the fields, there are many little tricks in the details that cannot be hidden, and they will be exposed.

For example, originally there were acres of fertile farmland, but then what was reported was acres of barren land...

For example, it was supposed to be a place where the nobles had great power, and then it was scattered under the names of some unknown people...

For example, it was written on the document that it was a forest and wasteland, but it turned out that it had actually been developed and turned into fields, and it had been cultivated for a long time...

These matters are naturally not particularly serious crimes compared to those thirty-seven families who were blinded by lard, but they add up to a large sum. As children of the noble family, how could Wei Duan and Du Ji Don't you understand?

The civil servants are more or less easy to talk to, eat and drink, arrange a few beautiful maids, and add some benefits as writing expenses, so everyone can get by. It is always better than those who always dig through small cloth bags and take out wooden fine cards. Patrolling the city?

Pang Tong chuckled and said: "The civil servants need to count the autumn poems, so they have no time to do it. Besides, the city inspection does not make any fuss. They are just proficient in counting. There is no harm in doing these small things, so let's leave it at that..."

Wei Duan was silent for a moment and said slowly: "May I ask Mr. Pang, do you know if Jingxiang has a city inspection?"

Pang Tong naturally understood the meaning of Wei Duan's words and laughed a few times. However, he did not directly answer Wei Duan's question. Instead, he said: "Sorrow to my ancestors, the country comes from Shewei, the silk clothes are red, and the four dragon flags are red. Tong. I marched with my bow to conquer the desert, and brought peace to the wilderness. I united all the kingdoms, supported the great merchants, and carried great achievements. My achievements are glorious... Well, I wonder if Wei Congcao heard this poem?"

The corners of Wei Duan's eyes twitched again. How could he not know this poem? But this time it was not the thirty-seven households, but a large area. Even he, Webster, was involved in it. Naturally, he could not take it lightly. So he said rather forcefully: "Why should Pang Shijun be like this? You must know that going too far is still not enough!"

The saying that the law does not punish the public is not an empty statement.

Who makes laws?

Is it to safeguard the interests of that level?

If there is no law to protect the distribution of social rights, who should be most worried about the property owners or the proletariat?

Therefore, when the "public" with the largest base begins to really make a fuss, the ruling class will often not suppress it blindly, but first divide and win over, and only kill those die-hards with a stick.

"Does Wei Congcao think this is inappropriate?" Pang Tong said lazily, as if the tea soup were too strong or too weak, "If you accept a land and a house, you can't accept more than if you sell the house." Those who are willing to buy a house that is not as good as his own are not allowed to buy a house. Officials and eunuchs are allowed to buy a house. The land and house should be transferred to the county magistrate, and those who cheat on behalf of their households will be ordered to redeem the city and the land and house will be confiscated. Those who do not belong to the household If there is a farm and a house, and the name of the person is attached, and if the person is named Tianzhai, he will be ordered to guard the border for two years, and he will not be admitted to the Tianzhai County magistrate. If the person is named Tianzhai, he can be sued first, and his crime will be removed, and he will be named Tianzhai. , it is like a law or order. The above are all "household laws"."

Wei Duan thought about his words and said: "Knowing the good and evil of the people, the order of service, knowing the rich and poor of the people, how much they are given, and equalizing their poor quality are the duties of the village elders. Pang Shijun is a talented and intelligent man, and he is the leader of the world. Jie, who is also in the position of assistant to the capital, will soon ascend to the Hall of Three Sophora Sophora trees and shine for thousands of years." After saying that, he glanced at Du Ji.

Du Ji also handed over his hand and said: "Now that Guanzhong has been settled for the first time, and it is time for the autumn harvest, taxation should be the most important thing...Tian Xuan's matter is in a hurry, and it is inevitable that there will be mistakes. You might as well...wait for time and prepare more manpower, and then do it again Make a decision?"

Pang Tong had a dark face and stared at Wei Duan and Du Ji without saying a word. At first, the two of them looked at Pang Tong, but after a while, they lowered their gazes and looked away, keeping silent. I don't know if it was because they were too ugly to stand.

"In a family of five, no less than two people are in the service, no more than a hundred acres can be cultivated, and no harvest from a hundred acres can be more than a hundred stones. Plowing in the spring, plowing in the summer, harvesting in the autumn, storing in the winter, cutting firewood, managing the government, and doing corvee labor; There is no protection from wind and dust in spring, heat in summer, rain in autumn, cold and freezing in winter. During the four seasons, the sun rests." Pang Tong said slowly, "If the people suffer, the government will be in chaos, and if the people perish, the country will be in danger. 2. Do you think so?"

Wei Duan was silent for a long time before he raised his hand and said: "In compliance with the people's wishes, there are three things to make up for. One is that the Lord uses enough, the other is that the people's endowment is small, and the third is to encourage farmers to do good work. Pang Shijun wants to be kind to the people, so it is a great good deed. However, he has not received much talent, and he has not done any agricultural work. He only serves as a jailer and hunts for crimes. Is it possible that he is putting the cart before the horse? A small offense and a heavy punishment also loses the way of benevolence and righteousness and damages the virtue of conquering the West. He is weak and lazy. People, thousands of acres of fertile land are empty and have nothing to leave to their children and grandchildren. The hard-working people are frugal in running the house, and over time, they will eventually have a shadow for their descendants. Is this too much?"

Du Ji said: "The emperor's love for the people can be learned from heaven and earth, and we are deeply impressed by it. However, now the people's hearts are not stable, and they are in panic. It is necessary to stabilize the four directions, stabilize the market, encourage farming and mulberry trees, and promote trade. Ambassador Pang Why are you so anxious?"

Pang Tong looked at the two of them, suddenly laughed, and said: "Since you two are willing to guarantee Xianghuai, it is not necessary to postpone the discussion... However, there is something that needs to be implemented immediately... Come here! Get it!" Tongbaolai!"

In fact, from the very beginning, Pang Tong's plan did not intend to catch all the noble nobles of the third auxiliary. He would suppress them, loosen them a little, and clean up some of the unlucky ones who jumped up. Such measures were also taken by these noble nobles of the third auxiliary. It was within the right's acceptance range, so Pang Tong left this matter to Wei Duan and Du Ji, and these two people didn't think there was anything inappropriate.

Anyway, aren’t the governors of various places appointed by the imperial court always like this?

For local snakes, if they can't withstand the strong dragon, they just lower their heads and endure it. It's not like they haven't endured it before. However, if the attack surface is spread and they want to kill them all, dogs will jump over the wall if they are anxious, let alone humans?

Pang Tong arrested thirty-seven households, and Wei Duan and Du Ji didn't have much to say. After all, some of them even warned them, but they didn't listen and jumped into the pit with all their strength. They brought it upon themselves and couldn't blame others. And naturally there should be as few such fools as possible among the ranks of the three auxiliary nobles, otherwise we wouldn’t even know they were implicated that day.

But Pang Tong's next move is to challenge almost all the three auxiliary nobles. Wei Duan and Du Ji are also among them. Of course, it is impossible to continue to support Pang Tong's actions.

Pang Tong himself was from a noble family, so he didn't understand. Therefore, his previous pretense was just to express an attitude, so that these noble nobles in the third auxiliary could understand that they should either cooperate obediently or be rude.

The Tongbao that Pang Tong asked to bring over was the most important economic reform that Fei Qian was preparing to implement recently.

In fact, this matter is also related to the rumor that Pang Tong, Jia Xu and Xu Shu made up about the general who conquered the west. Although it is not said that it killed one thousand enemies and suffered eight hundred losses, it still affected the previous economic and monetary system to some extent.

The value system of Jiaozi that was previously promoted in Bingbei is still linked to copper coins. That is to say, although most people accept Jiaozi as a general equivalent, they still convert it into the value of the old five baht coin.

The value of modern banknotes is generally endorsed by the credit of the country. The banknotes themselves do not comply with the law of value. This is basically the understanding of everyone in later generations. However, in the Han Dynasty, the price of paper was very high, so in Feiqian When Jiaozi was promoted, no one had many opinions. On a small scale, under the control of Fei Qian, and with the personal reputation of General Zhengxi as a guarantee, some of Jiaozi's problems were not serious. Anyway, the copper coin system collapsed, the five-baht coin depreciated significantly, and Without a suitable substitute, paper, which is expensive and requires complicated craftsmanship, temporarily serves as the general equivalent in Bingbei.

Just like many times after the collapse of the copper coin system, people used barter, but Feiqian provided a more convenient substitute. However, Feiqian used the Jiaozi system to get through the initial most difficult and largest amount of money. After the stage of plundering wealth, Fei Qian found that he was suddenly faced with an embarrassing problem. There were certain difficulties in continuing to promote Jiaozi. After all, Jiaozi had problems both in terms of acceptance and storage and use, and such problems As the jurisdictional distance increases, it will bring more inconvenience and even affect the order of the entire economy.

The ancient Chinese currency system was based on the copper standard as the basis of exchange value. It was a currency system with strict regulations and standards. Otherwise, the copper standard would not have become the core of the Eastern currency system, and its influence would radiate to surrounding countries and last for thousands of years.

The Jiaozi currently manufactured by Feiqian is basically not worth it because of its strong technology and the high cost of imitation, so imitations have not yet appeared, but this means that there will definitely not be any in the future. What? Is it necessarily safe and convenient?

A very obvious problem is that during the use of Jiaozi for so many years, there must be daily wear and tear, just like the banknotes of later generations. Fei Qian is responsible for recycling these nearly abandoned Jiaozi, and was responsible for the exchange of Qingyin in the Han Dynasty. The shops are not like the ATMs that can be found everywhere in big cities in later generations, but rather like remote and remote villages, which may not be available even thirty or forty miles away. The serious shortage of Qingyin shops will also limit the promotion of the entire Jiaozi.

Secondly, even in Binh Duang, sometimes some fake jiaozi are accidentally mixed in. They are not imitations, but for example, they are passed off as five pieces. As a result, it is difficult to identify them because of the stains. , even when fifty...

If these moldy, damaged, and dirty items are not returned or replaced, Jiaozi's reputation will decline accordingly, so we can only replace them, but if we continue to do so, it will inevitably cause more problems. It's not that there are no solutions, such as introducing a labeling system, etc., but this will increase the overall complexity a lot. Not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of personnel, the requirements will be higher, and it will inevitably feel like the gain is not worth the loss.

The final blow to the Jiaozi currency system was the rumors of Pang Tong, Xu Shu, Jia Xu and others.

Just think about it, you know, when the legendary General Zhengxi passed away, what action would those who still have Jiaozi make?

Therefore, after Feiqian returned to Pingyang, after many considerations, he prepared to gradually upgrade Jiaozi and evolve it into a large-amount bill of exchange, and implement the evolution of China's original copper standard into a gold standard. Of course, at the beginning, it was still mainly copper, but The important thing is to seize the right to cast, that is, to formulate a legal standard for Tongbao.

Strictly speaking, China is not currently on a complete copper standard, but on a gold-copper re-standard. However, whether it is a gold-copper re-standard or a gold-silver re-standard, it is actually very unstable. It would be better to directly implement it to the gold standard in one fell swoop. Gold is upgraded to legal tender, and all other metals are auxiliary currencies. In this way, in addition to helping to standardize the original copper coin system that was completely ruined and restore its original value, it can also facilitate better transactions with the outside world and promote the development of commodities. circulation.

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Qin banliang coins weighing twelve baht were still used. However, due to insufficient copper materials, there was a serious shortage of copper coins. Therefore, the minted banliang coins actually weighed only eight baht. Later, the weight was gradually reduced, and four-and-a-half-liang and three-baht coins were minted. There was also the phenomenon of melting the twelve-baht coins into half-liang coins that were three-baht and using them as twelve-baht coins. Such a chaotic and corrupt system of large amounts but insufficient weight directly led to the rampant practice of privately minting coins among the people.

The reason why Dong Zhuo's five-baht coins were ruined in Guanzhong was also the same as this. In order to make up for the shortfall, he even minted the five-baht coins into one baht, which was called "corn money" by the people. The weight was reduced and the quality was reduced. But it still has to serve as the original value. Who will accept this? A large number of five-baht coins were withdrawn and privately minted into even less valuable counterfeit money. It can even be broken by breaking it hard, so the copper coin system completely collapsed, giving Feiqian Jiaozi room for existence.

But everything has its own development rules, and Jiaozi is no exception. On the one hand, Feiqian wants large-scale education, which naturally requires the production of paper, and on the other hand, it is necessary to prevent the Jiaozi made from paper from being copied, which will lead to the collapse of the economic structure. Therefore, returning to the heavy metal currency system that adapts to production conditions has become A desperate choice. Although Fei Qian also knows that paper money is the most profitable, but the conditions are indeed insufficient now, so he decided to re-standardize the monetary value system before Jiaozi completely collapses, using weight and quality as standards to standardize the gold standard currency system. That is to say, the quality standards of gold, silver and copper were specified, plus the final point. Fei Qian's men discovered a quite large gold mine about four to five hundred miles north of Yinshan Mountain...

"This is gold, platinum and red gold." Pang Tong slammed the newly minted coins on the table, and then said to Wei Duan and Du Ji, "I have the order to conquer the west, and I will use this autumn to harvest The opportunity is to make everyone in the three auxiliary areas know this treasure in exchange for five baht."