Three Kingdoms

When Li Ru and Jia Xu received the battle between Lu Bu and the Yanqi people and won an initial victory, Li Ru and Jia Xu were not too surprised or happy, because originally this battle could not be considered a serious one. What kind of big battle is it? It's just a tribe of Yanqi. It's almost like breaking a leg of the Yanqi people. Winning is normal, but not winning is a rare thing.

Putting aside for the moment how Lu Bu and Wei Xuren negotiated and received rewards, and how Li Ru and Jia Xu used this battle to leverage the relations between the countries in the Western Regions, let's look back at Fei Qian in Pingyang. After meeting Cai Yan, a new guest was welcomed...

Cai Yan was also shy, and Fei Qian made it clear. Cai Yan was even more embarrassed to meet Fei Qian, so he hid in his small courtyard and refused to come out. Even Fei Qian came to the door and refused, which made Fei Qian Scratching your head.

However, Fei Qian didn't have much time to devote to this aspect. When the news spread that Fei Qian had arrived in Pingyang, there was an endless stream of people coming to visit him, so much so that Fei Qian even wanted to sell tickets in front of his own government office. , or some sort of reservation system.

Among them, Mr. Shui Jing is even more diligent. He comes almost every day, either to give lectures on the affairs of the Academy or on the affairs of the second generation of Xi Ping Shi Jing...

Historically, after the Xiping Stone Scripture was destroyed, it would not be erected again until forty or fifty years later by Cao Fang. However, at that time, it was no longer called the Xiping Stone Scripture, but was called the "Zhengshi Stone Scripture".

The Stone Scripture is originally meant to be based on stone. Relatively speaking, it is a relatively strong and durable natural material. Moreover, using stone as a Scripture is also convenient for students to make rubbings and spread it widely. However, this does not mean that Fei Qian Take out some money from your pocket, and then the clattering stone scripture can be erected. There are many things in it.

Let’s not talk about the preliminary proofreading and selection work. Cai Yan and Sima Hui have basically discussed this part, so the content is generally determined, that is, it is basically based on the ancient scriptures. As for the modern scriptures... ...Of course Fei Qian will not claim that the modern scripture is not good, but will say that there are so many words in the modern scripture, and there are so many stones that it cannot be carved! In addition, there are too many prophecies, annotations, subtle remarks and so on in the Jinwen Sutra, especially since there are some differences and differences between each school and sect, so it doesn’t matter which one is engraved, right? If you want to read the Stone Scripture, you should first unify the caliber and then talk...

Even so, there are still many matters for Fei Qian to make decisions about the Stone Scripture.

The first thing is the stone selection. Sima Hui seems to think that it is not a waste of his money anyway, so he does not seek the best but seeks better. Ordinary stones are not attractive at all, so he strongly recommends an "imported" stone to Fei Qian. Well, it is indeed an "imported" product, because if divided according to the power of each prince, this so-called "Stone of Fire Virtue" that complements the Han Dynasty's Fire Virtue is indeed not within Fei Qian's sphere of influence...

Luliang Mountain and Taihang Mountain originally had a lot of stones. Fei Qian meant that these stones were used, but those were just ordinary granites. But Sima Hui persuaded and emphasized again and again, how could such a century-old achievement be carved with ordinary white or gray stone? Where is the face of the approaching Hussar General?

But the problem is that imported goods are very expensive...

There is no logistics these days. All raw materials must be transported by people and horses. If there is any damage or damage along the way, the money is really spent like water, and there is no guarantee that it will be heard. What's the sound...

So Fei Qian gritted his teeth and didn't let go. He just asked people to go to Luliang Taihang to investigate again to see if they could find some red granite. Anyway, they had to import it from the Western Regions or go to Shandong to collect it. Fei Qian didn't do it. . Sima Hui said this several times, and when he saw Fei Qian's resolute attitude, he sighed and endured it for the time being. However, it seemed that he was not giving up, but was preparing to repeat the old story again after a period of time when he couldn't find the red stone.

In addition to the problem of stone material, this nice old guy not only wants to engrave one font, but also plans to engrave three types!

Sima Yi eloquently stated that in the past, the Xiping Stone Classic was written in official script. After it was carved, although there was no big problem with the content, the font was criticized. Many people said how could such a serious thing be used? Is it engraving in official script? It is an insult to scripture!

That's right, official script, look at the word "official" and you will know the origin of this kind of calligraphy.

Sima Yi said with a shy face and a smile that in order to show the majesty of a hussar general, he said that he would either not do it or make a big one, not only with subordinates, but also with small seal characters, and even said that he also needed to carve ancient seals at the same time. Seal script, that is, words similar to oracle bone inscriptions or bronze inscriptions, can reflect the excellence of this version of the Stone Scripture, and only then can the awe-inspiring aura of heaven, earth, and the universe be attached to it...

Well, that’s pretty much what it means anyway.

But the problem is that using three fonts does not mean that it is finished after being carved three times, because the Sima Hui means that three fonts are carved on the same stone scripture stele at the same time, and the top and bottom can be compared. This difficulty does not mean Three times more work, or even ten times more!

There is no correction fluid when carving a stone scripture. A piece of stone scripture, from writing the manuscript to carving it on the stone tablet, in any step, among the hundreds or thousands of words, if one word appears, one stroke is added or even one is missing. After just one stroke, the stele was basically useless...

For craftsmen, it is already very good to be able to understand the official script, not to mention the small seal script, and those bronze inscriptions that are even older than the small seal script!

atmosphere!

luxury!

Fei Qian wanted to ask Sima Yi if the word "Kaizi" was written all over his forehead...

Three fonts! At that moment, Fei Qian could even feel that his small money was beginning to move around, and he was ready to fly away at any time!

But after thinking about it for a long time, Fei Qian gritted his teeth and agreed to Sima Yi's request. After all, this is different from the consumption of stone...

As for stone, although there are some good-looking and some bad-looking in terms of color or pattern, as long as it is granite, the texture will not be much different, so for a good-looking color, you have to spend ten times or even dozens of dollars. It is indeed not cost-effective to import from elsewhere at twice the price, but the three fonts are another matter.

From the perspective of the evolution of Chinese characters, whether it is small seal script, oracle bone inscriptions, or bronze inscriptions, they are no longer suitable for current writing habits, or even for future development directions. The most important reason is the change in writing methods, from knife to pen. , human beings will naturally and enthusiastically choose a more convenient and comfortable way of writing, but this does not mean that all ancient fonts must be abandoned without reservation.

Because that's the root.

The roots of a culture.

Just like the widespread use of American keyboards in later generations has led to the degradation of writing for many people, writing actually represents the inheritance of a culture to a certain extent.

Fei Qian came from a later generation and knew how difficult it was to study oracle bone inscriptions or bronze inscriptions in later generations. On the one hand, it was because of problems in literary inheritance, and on the other hand, it was because of how few things were passed down to later generations... …

Therefore, if three fonts are used for engraving now, even though not all of them may be passed on to future generations, one more backup may mean one more inheritance.

Three fonts!

Bronze inscriptions, small seal script, and official script!

Perhaps when future generations excavate it, they can intuitively see the entire changes in Chinese writing from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Qin and Han Dynasties, and they don’t have to work hard to guess what a certain seal script or bronze script is, because it is like a comparison. Dictionaries are generally available and can be retrieved from the Stone Scripture...

Is this considered a contribution to the future world?

Isn’t it just spending money anyway? Isn't it just chopping? As long as it's worth the money, it's not like I haven't chopped off my hands in future generations... In addition to the heartache of tears, Fei Qian could only comfort himself in this way.

After repeatedly finalizing some details of the Stone Scripture with Sima Yi, Fei Qian also received a report from Xun Chen. In the current economic system, Xun Chen discovered that there were some imitation Zhengxi coins on the market...

What is supposed to come will eventually come.

"Bad money drives out good money", Fei Qian also understood it, even better than the average person, so he had already considered this issue when he made the Zhengxi coins. Many people know the words "bad money drives out good money", but some of them just take it literally and don't know that there are actually some specific restrictions under "bad money drives out good money", and even some There is an “anti-Gresham phenomenon.”

For bad money to drive out good money to be true, first of all, both bad money and good money must be legal tender at the same time; secondly, a fixed legal ratio applies to the two currencies, and thirdly, the sum of the two currencies must exceed the amount of money required by society.

In the Han Dynasty, or in the territory controlled by Fei Qian, none of these three conditions were met.

The Han Dynasty had always used five baht coins, and gold and silver were rarely used. Therefore, when describing big merchants in the Three Kingdoms, they always used hundreds of millions of coins to describe them, instead of tens of thousands of taels of gold, and five baht coins. Money, whether it is the original high-quality five-baht coins or the later paper money cast by Dong Zhuo, has basically withdrawn from the circulation market in Guanzhong and Bingzhou areas, and is not accepted by all shops, so the first condition is not met. .

Secondly, the exchange rate is extremely sharp, how could Fei Qian hand it over so easily? Because only large-scale currency exchange institutions have been established in Chang'an and Pingyang, the next step will be to build a third one in Chengdu, and these three institutions are the prototypes of later generations of banks. They are all directly managed by Fei Qian, and the exchange rate can be slightly changed. , so that these guys who want to come to exchange Zhengxi coins and make profits can lose money and can't even wear pants. After all, the current currency system is different from the paper currency system of later generations. Even if a lot of other metals such as lead and tin are mixed into the copper, it still has a certain value based on the weight. It is not completely bottomless and cheap. When the exchange rate changes to an unfavorable level, When there is money to be made, naturally no one will consider transporting five baht coins to Chang'an or Pingyang for exchange, but will start to consider imitation, just like the imitation Zhengxi coins that appear now...

However, this is exactly what Feiqian needs...

This was the Han Dynasty. It was not an era of convenient logistics and abundant materials like that of later generations, but an era where doing anything required a lot of manpower and material resources. It was an era where the exchange of goods in the market was seriously restricted by the small-scale peasant economy and the products were low. An era when economic circulation was completely incomparable to that of later generations!

To develop commerce, it is natural that general equivalents are indispensable as leverage. At present, whether it is a real Zhengxi coin or a fake Zhengxi coin, even if the number is doubled, it will not exceed the number of coins needed by the entire Han Dynasty!

At the same time, who can have the ability to imitate coins?

Will they be ordinary, ordinary farmers and women?

Therefore, when counterfeit currency appears, Fei Qian is not worried about bad currency driving out good currency, because the root of this problem lies in power rather than economy.

Whether it is the Han Dynasty or later generations, the issuance of each set of currency is forced by the state to be accepted by the people. Although the paying party is happy to use bad currency, the receiving party is not willing to accept bad currency. Only when the state can guarantee Only when the bad currency accepted by the payee can continue to circulate can the bad currency continue to exist and this law continue to work. Moreover, when the entire Han Dynasty is using Zhengxi currency, they are all affected by the gold and silver exchange rate of Zhengxi currency. When the market is ups and downs, what Fei Qian can take away from it is not just the benefits of money...

Therefore, after Fei Qian got the news, not only was he not angry, but he felt a little happy, because other benefits aside, there was another opportunity to make money financially, which could make up for it to some extent because of the second generation of Xiping Shijing. A huge hole will be created.

There are happy things, and naturally there are unhappy ones. Cui Jun in Taiyuan reported that Zheng Kangcheng had arrived in Taiyuan. He was fifteen miles southwest of Taiyuan City and borrowed a Taoist temple to start teaching. It was said that when the lecture started, a thousand people gathered... …

Zheng Kangcheng arrived in Taiyuan?

When did you come?

According to legend, during Zheng Xuan's heyday, tens of thousands of people even attended his lectures...

Of course, this number, according to the urine of Chinese literati, is probably an imaginary reference. For example, the streets are empty. Judging from the experience of later generations, more than 500 people, no matter how they sit, is almost the limit of a teacher’s human voice. Tens of thousands of people, tsk tsk... If there are really tens of thousands, people will probably be useless after Zheng Xuan's lecture.

So for the ten thousand people attending the lecture, let’s ignore whether it is calculated cumulatively and just think about why Zheng Xuan came...

As the saying goes, you can't afford to be too early if you don't have any profit. Fei Qian would not believe that Zheng Xuan, an old Confucian, would send warmth from thousands of miles away and come to Taiyuan to learn how to make contributions. Therefore, it is probably because he discovered that the Feng Shui here in Bingzhou is good and wants to Come to get a share of the pie?

Theory has always been the high point, whether it is literature, economics, or any other field, so this time, I have to send someone to take a look...