Three Kingdoms

After the defeat of Yuan's army, Fei Qian stayed in the Huguan area for a while, met with the powerful nobles of the Shangdang area headed by the Linghu family, and after re-pacifying and motivating him, he left Zhang Xiu to strengthen Shangdang Huguan. After defending the Taihang Mountain area, he led his soldiers back to Pingyang.

After all, the matter of Qiu Harvest is also very important, and it still needs to be monitored to some extent.

Moreover, the attitude of Yuvluo on the side of Yinshan is also a focus of Fei Qian's prevention. However, before Yuvluo, Fei Qian still needs to arrange the things at hand. The most important project is to use the tools for economic and trade purposes. The Jiaozi system has been upgraded to the Tongbao system.

Fei Qian also held a few Tong Bao in his hands, banging them in his left and right hands, and found some bad habits that later generations would shake when they got rich. Well, good habits.

The original Tongbao was forged by hand, that is, a hammer was used to place the coin in the upper and lower press block modules. After banging, it was considered complete. However, the coins produced like this were not strong enough due to the manual strength. Due to the balance, it is easy to cause uneven edges and uneven thickness at the top and bottom.

It is not easy to directly use the coin manufacturing model of later generations. First of all, it is difficult to achieve in terms of process. In addition, there is no hydraulic press that can withstand tens or hundreds of tons to forge coins, so Fei Qian can only do the second best and use Water power is used for forging, and a simple crank linkage method is used to suppress the coin embryos that have been softened by quenching, pickling, and pickling. The final formed coins look somewhat like later generations.

You won't have the urge to think about him as soon as you pick it up...

Tongbao, or coins, has three qualities: gold, silver, red copper, and then four specifications. Gold and silver are one kind, and red copper is two kinds, each with different sizes. Gold coins are half a tael, silver coins are one tael, and copper coins are divided into There are two types: three baht and six baht.

Because the Han Dynasty still adopted the Qin system, twenty-four baht was one tael, so in order to facilitate calculation, and on the other hand to reduce the possibility of his own coins being expelled by bad coins, Fei Qian simply removed the weird five-baht coin. For the quantity unit, we directly use the specifications of three baht and six baht, which are easier to round up.

Of course, the actual weight of the coin is not full, only about 90% of the weight. In addition, the metallurgical technology of the Han Dynasty was not very good, and almost 80% of the texture can be called pure gold and pure silver. Therefore, in fact, Fei Qian made The real texture of Tongbao is only about 70%.

The use of gold and silver as coins was not Fei Qian's initiative. In the early Han Dynasty, silver coins of various shapes were still in use, but not as much as gold. In the fourth year of Yuanshou in the Han Dynasty, due to the use of troops against the Xiongnu, financial difficulties were encountered. According to Zhang Tang's suggestion, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used the Shaofu's accumulated silver and tin to mint three-grade platinum coins, that is, silver coins, while issuing white deer skin coins. One kind of commemorative coin is the round dragon coin, also known as Baixuan, Baiyu, which is round and has dragon patterns. It weighs eight taels and is worth three thousand. One type is a square horse coin, which is square and has horse patterns. It weighs six taels and is worth five hundred. The last kind is the oval turtle coin, which is round and square in shape. The coin is shaped like a turtle, with the tortoise shell as the inscription. It weighs four taels and is worth three hundred.

Not to mention gold, horseshoe gold, lin gold, gold stamp, etc. have all appeared, and were even more common than silver in the Han Dynasty.

In the Han Dynasty, silver and gold were actually called gold like red copper. However, because the output of silver and gold was relatively small, they were generally used as raw materials for luxury goods to make utensils, and even the emperor made them. The gold coins and silver coins produced are in most cases enshrined and rarely put into the market for use.

Although the royal family of the Han Dynasty often gave large sums of gold and silver to members of the royal family and nobles, in fact they were not seen on the market at all. Moreover, because the Han Dynasty paid attention to funeral factors, many of the gold and silver that were rewarded were also given to their owners. Death is followed by burial, which ultimately leads to the existence of high-value metals that are no more than copper coins on the market, and also provides the source of trouble for those who are worth ten or one hundred.

Fei Qian doesn't have much silver on hand now, but gold...

If it were not for the Yinshan Xianbei attack on Fei Qian, Fei Qian would not have sent Zhao Yun to patrol the north. It would not even be possible to see the original and natural gold nugget ornaments on the Xianbei colorful scepter. Naturally, it would be impossible to find the original gold nugget in the north of the Yinshan Mountains. That's a gold mine.

Geographically speaking, the gold mine that was discovered should have been in Inner Mongolia in later generations?

Probably, anyway, gold is generally sufficient at this stage.

Although the official exchange rate for gold and copper coins in the Han Dynasty was one pound of gold equals ten thousand qian, note that it was a pound of gold, in fact from the Western Han Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, private minting was repeatedly prohibited, coupled with a large number of stupid economic strategies of paying ten for a hundred, resulting in Copper coins have depreciated greatly, so the number of coins exchanged for one gold now far exceeds the official exchange rate.

After Fei Qian created the Golden Tongbao and took control of the gold mine, if it can be fully used, it will be equivalent to controlling the lifeline of the invisible economy, and even if it develops in the future, there will be additional benefits...

Zao Zhi also looked at these Tongbao tossing and turning, looking at the patterns of these Tongbao with great interest, and then weighed the weight respectively, and then said: "Junhou, this... well, Tongbao, it is really exquisite, I don't know how much it is worth. ?”

Fei Qian picked up the golden treasure and said, "This is the reason why I asked Zijing to come... This coin is worth half a tael, how about five stones of fine millet?"

Zao Zhi raised his head, blinked his eyes a few times, tugged his fingers again, and said: "So, one pound of gold is worth one hundred and sixty pieces of fine stone and millet? Hmm... It seems a little higher, but it's about the same. too much……"

Fei Qian smiled and nodded. In the Western Han Dynasty, if a stone of grain cost tens of dollars, it was too cheap, and if it cost hundreds, it was too expensive. However, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, hundreds of dollars were considered cheap. Nowadays, it often costs thousands of dollars. Fei Qian is here It's a bit better, but it's about eight or nine hundred yuan per stone. So if gold is directly linked to copper coins and a fixed exchange rate is adopted, then no matter how much it is set, bad coins will drive out good coins, either to expel copper coins or to expel them. gold.

Therefore, Fei Qian simply linked it directly to food.

Just like later generations say that there is no inflation, no devaluation, everything is within a reasonable range, within the control range, and within the original plan. A long list of proper nouns such as CPI and GPI are confusing, but as long as the When he sees how much food can be purchased with the same amount of money, he can clearly know whether the money has depreciated or whether there is inflation.

People survive on food, not on the value of coins. Under normal circumstances, the amount of food that can be supplied for one stone of food is relatively stable. Therefore, when Fei Qian directly linked the price of gold to food, it was equivalent to Let the price of gold have a fixed standard.

As for the future, in the next few decades or hundreds of years, society will be stable and food will increase in large quantities, and the possibility of gold devaluation will naturally increase. However, right now, food is a hard currency, similar to oil at a certain stage in later generations.

This is the result of the value competition between items.

And doing this also has great benefits, that is, it makes it easier for Fei Qian to conduct transactions with the surrounding princes. After all, with a fixed standard, everyone will accept and agree with it more.

However, Zao Zhi still had some doubts. He fiddled with these treasures and said, "What if they were cast privately by others?"

Fei Qian pointed at Tongbao and said: "As for the excellent quality, the location of the workshop is naturally not bad. However, if someone is willing to melt copper and cast it privately, that is up to him, as long as the value and weight are the same."

Zao Zhi frowned and thought for a while, but he didn't quite understand. However, since Fei Qian acted confidently, Zao Zhi didn't say anything more in this aspect.

Fei Qian knew in his heart that imitation could not be banned. Even the Han Dynasty had no way to ban private casting, let alone Fei Qian's princes.

But the weight of gold and silver is there. Although the weight is only 90%, this is basically the practice. Moreover, Feiqian's Tongbao has patterns on both sides, and it also adopts the structure of a round sky and a square place. In addition to the patterns, there are also There are inscriptions on the inside and outside to prevent cutting and grinding, and the shape is naturally much better than the original five-baht coin.

As for the most widely used Copper Yuan Tongbao, there is not much difference in weight between the six-baht coin and the original five-baht coin. Therefore, it eliminates the possibility of being melted and stolen. In turn, someone may even melt the original coin. Some five-baht coins are made to imitate the six-baht tongbao here in Feiqian.

The original exquisite five-baht coins from the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, that is, the three-guan five-baht coins have mostly disappeared. Most of them on the market are the five-baht coins from the periods of Emperor Han Heng and Emperor Han Ling, especially those of Emperor Han Ling. In the period of "four out of five baht", the weight was more or less sufficient. The so-called "four outs" refer to the fact that the money curtain leads a straight line of positive characters from the four corners of the square hole to the outside. It is a preventive technology used to prevent the back of the money from being filed and stolen.

But the five-baht coins minted by subsequent princes are not as good as one. Why should they be regarded as 100%? What Dong Zhuo has done, Cao Cao has done, Liu Bei has also done it. Everyone does not laugh at the bastard, and the boss does not laugh at the second child...

Therefore, Fei Qian is not afraid of imitation by others. Even at this stage when coins are widely used, imitation is welcome.

Raise your hands in a warm welcome.

In other words, Feiqian's current six-baht coins have depreciated by less than 20%. In addition, exquisite craftsmanship also requires costs, so it can actually be regarded as a perfect substitute for the original five-baht coins. From the perspective of weight, Feiqian's six-baht coin is a "bad coin". If princes from all over the country rush to imitate it, it means that the original normal five-baht coin, a "good coin", will eventually be expelled. After leaving the market, what is left in the end is the Six Baht Tong Bao formulated by Fei Qian.

It is not the key to how many six-baht tongbao the princes in various places made. The key is the price that Fei Qian set at the beginning for one gold tongbao to replace five large stones of corn.

"Zijing, taking advantage of the autumn harvest and the opportunity to collect and pay taxes from various places, build Qingyin Shop in Pingyang, Anyi, Huguan, Jinyang, Lishi, Linjin, Huaili, Chang'an and Nanzheng. , arrange personnel to start exchanging Tongbao," Fei Qian said to Zao Zhi. After all, Zao Zhi's reputation among ordinary farmers in Bingbei is still very good, so he used Zao Zhi's reputation to control the entire five-baht coin and Jiaozi's Replacement and upgrade naturally became Fei Qian's best choice. "I have already sent orders to all the county guards to cooperate with Zijing and handle it together with the Agricultural Society. I wonder if Zijing has any other questions?"

Zao Zhi thought about it and felt that the problem was not big, so he nodded and took over the matter. Although Zao Zhi does not know anything about economics, as a Tongbao taken out by Fei Qian, Zao Zhi even feels more accustomed to it than Jiaozi. After all, after so many years, both men and women still like money. The bag feels heavy, like a wallet, after all, it is too light...

And in Zao Zhi's view, Fei Qian just changed the five-baht coin into a six-baht coin. This is already considered a benevolent government. It is much better than those guys who just mint some ten-hundred-dollar coins at every turn. , so Zao Zhi felt that it would not be a big problem to push it.

"By the way," Fei Qian suddenly thought of something. After all, he had promised it before, "Zijing, send someone to transport some millet wine to Shangdang Huguan. During a certain battle with Yuan Jun, Zeng promised the general to give a jar of wine after the war. Well, give one to Colonel Gong and Wei, too."

Of course, Zao Zhi had no problem with such a trivial matter, so he wrote it down, and then said: "Junhou, this General Yuan..."

How could Zao Zhi, who was born in Yingzhou, not know the strength of the Yuan family in Shandong? Hearing that Fei Qian defeated Yuan Jun, Zao Zhi was both happy and worried, so he couldn't help but ask, mainly because he wanted to know. Fei Qian's subsequent strategy for Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.

"The thief of impermanence can only benefit forever." Fei Qian said with a smile, "I wonder if Zijing can hear this?"

Zao Zhi touched the tip of the goatee that was growing out on his chin, thought about it for a moment, nodded, and said: "Well... this makes sense... Does the Lord mean that... Yuan can also drive him away?"

Fei Qian laughed and said, "Why not? It's not a lack of merit, but it's not worth the price! War horses, weapons, armor, leather goods, and even Zhuanghe's fine seeds are all needed by the Yuan family. If they are combined, both sides will benefit, and if they are divided, Two defeats, the current situation, if Zi Jing is the Yuan family, what should he do?"

With the decline of Luoyang in Chang'an, Pingyang has completely replaced these two places and became the largest trade center in the Han Dynasty. Moreover, for the Hu people, who would be stupid if there was a relatively nearby, fair and safe trading place? Why don't you travel further afield to trade with unfamiliar and disreputable guys?

Therefore, under such circumstances, the Hu merchants who originally flowed to Jizhou and other areas were basically cut off. If it weren't for the caravans sent by Fei Qian, those in these areas would have to rely on self-sufficiency.

"By the way, even so, everything is possible..." Fei Qian looked at Zao Zhi and said, "I have sent a letter to Yuan Zhi to welcome his mother and go along the north of Jingxiang, passing Wuguan to Guanzhong. If Zijing is... you might as well write a letter, if your Majesty wishes, we can go together, so that we can take care of you on the way..."

After hearing this, Zao Zhi couldn't help but be stunned, and then nodded.

This matter is where Fei Qian takes precautions. Xu Shu’s mother was originally in Jingxiang. Although there is a high probability that there will be no problems under the care of Pang Degong, Pang Degong is already older. Secondly, Fei Qian also wants to Simply let Pang Degong take over as the leader of the Shoushan Academy Grand Ceremony. Therefore, if Pang Degong leaves Jingxiang, the situation will naturally change...