Three Kingdoms

Chang'an, the mansion of the Han Hussar General.

Fei Qian played with the newly released gold, silver and copper coins in his hand.

Because metal coins often have the basic conditions of being easy to recognize, clearly marked, and constant in weight, Feiqian changed back to the metal currency system after promoting Jiaozi for a period of time.

China can be regarded as one of the earliest countries in the world to mint coins. In the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period at the latest, China has begun to mint coins on a large scale. In the entire development process of mints, it has generally gone through a flat, vertical and horizontal development process. There are four stages: type casting, stack casting, mother coin sand casting, and machine forging.

As for Qin coins, perhaps due to limited conditions, pursuit of craftsmanship, or the beauty of bronze at that time, most of the copper coins were made of copper alloys with a high lead content, which appeared green and black in color.

The copper coins used by Fei Qian are mainly zinc-copper alloys, which appear to be closer to the brass of later generations. The color is more pleasing and easy to distinguish from the original five-baht coins. Even if some local big players try to steal the coins, they may not be able to do so. Obtain copper material with a similar color and luster, so it is easier to identify counterfeit coins.

As for silver coins and gold coins, they are about 95% pure and are measured by weight. Although there are counterfeit lead coins that are coated with gold and silver, but because the value of silver coins and gold coins is higher, generally speaking, they will be more careful to distinguish them. , and every major merchant has a new type of balance that uses fixed weights to correspond to the weight of gold and silver coins, so it is very difficult to imitate them. Are they of the same weight but different sizes? Are they of the same size but inconsistent in weight? To make sure the weight is the same and the size is the same, the effort you put in may not be able to earn back the money...

Coupled with the hydraulic steel die forging currently used by Feiqian, it is almost at the forefront of the current minting industry. Not only does it have clear outlines and complete fonts, but it can also be decorated with patterns and year numbers on both the front and back. Although compared to Later generations were still very rough, but it also raised the threshold for minting to a certain extent, and then reduced the practice of scraping and trimming copper.

"The sky is round and the earth is square..." Fei Qian chuckled, "It's just a far-fetched idea. Since the coins were originally cast, they needed to be polished. However, the round holes were difficult to fix, so they were fixed with square wood... Not The reason why coins are determined based on the round sky and the square place is because of the difficulty of casting and grinding..."

Although hydraulic die-casting is not as good as steam engine die-casting, fortunately, water power is almost free. Over time, I have accumulated a lot of coins, and because it is die-casting, there is no need to maintain the original sky. The local shape is directly cast into a round solid body, which is actually more time-saving.

Of course, such behavior was not resisted by sour scholars in the Han Dynasty. The reason is very simple. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, solid currency actually circulated for a long time. As Fei Qian said, the sky is not round and the earth is not round. It was only with this theory that money was cast according to this standard. It was the casting technology that led to the emergence of Brother Kong Fang.

Fei Qian smiled and said, "As new coins come out, old coins should be collected." People can exchange it on their own for a period of five years. At that time, the old currency will be abolished and the new currency can be used directly. 』

Xun You was stunned for a moment and said, "Recycle old coins?" 』

This is nothing new, after all, it was done during the reign of Qin Shihuang. Other subsequent feudal dynasties also did similar things.

Fei Qian asked, "What advice does Gongda have?" 』

Xun You cupped his hands and said, "I don't dare." Recycling old coins, the loss...I'm afraid it's not small..." Transportation, doesn't that require money? Since the weight is about the same, why not continue to use it? Just like five baht coins, it has been used for three to four hundred years. Isn't it impossible?

Fei Qian nodded, then sighed slightly and said: "Recycling old coins is not for profit, but to prevent harm..."

There are also rules for minting coins. If there are no rules, it will be over. Later major developed countries claimed that they had no inflation, saying that everything was price stability. But in fact, even if they maintain a moderate inflation of about 5%, prices will double in ten or twenty years!

But what about ancient times?

Although there is always inflation at the end of every dynasty, in fact, overall, every dynasty is doing its best to maintain currency stability.

This is true at all times and in all countries.

Although ancient Rome was notorious for its inflation in the third century, on a longer historical scale, this was just a very accidental episode. From around 150 BC to AD 50, the price of wheat in ancient Rome increased by a measly 50%.

Of course, if we only look at the stability of prices, the centuries before the gold standard was implemented were no worse than the two hundred years after the gold standard was implemented. During the five hundred years from 1200 to 1700, with the exception of the 16th century, when wheat prices increased by an average of 1.5% per year, wheat prices changed almost zero in other centuries.

That is to say, as far as China is concerned, physical evidence can explain the problem better than the general impression in history books.

Copper coins of the Song Dynasty were marked with era names, which were frequently updated during the Song Dynasty, allowing later researchers to use the remaining copper coins of the Song Dynasty to construct quasi-annual data on currency fineness. During the Song Dynasty for more than 300 years, the weight and fineness of the one-wen and two-wen copper coins, which were the main types of circulation, were extremely stable.

Even in the terrible Braided Dynasty, grain prices only increased 3.5 times between the founding of the People's Republic of China and the mid-19th century, equivalent to an average annual inflation of 0.6%...

Of course, the most foolhardy thing is the Dameng Dynasty, which prints desperately. As a result, the Dameng treasure banknotes are destined to be worse than waste paper from the beginning, and it is too hard to wipe the buttocks. The Yuan Dynasty was so confused that they all knew that the annual printing volume needed to be controlled, which was maintained at about 200,000 ingots. One of them failed to control and printed 1.5 million ingots, and then forced Zhu Chongba out. As a result, Zhu Touba came to power, and Dameng actually printed 1.5 million ingots a year. 5.15 million ingots. In the 23rd year of Hongwu, the practitioners of the Central Bank directly increased the issuance to 15 million ingots...

"When Dong was a thief, he was running rampant with bad money..." Speaking of what happened back then, Fei Qian sighed somewhat. At this point, he was actually the little mastermind behind the scenes, but Fei Qian was reaching out to the gentry family, and the gentry family The aristocratic family is just imposed on the people.

Strictly speaking, Fei Qian did not mint bad money at that time. He just charged low and sold high. He lent currency when the currency value was high, then purchased goods. Then when the currency value plummeted, he settled in currency and earned the difference. That's all, although there is some suspicion of taking advantage of the situation, it still belongs to the commercial category.

Dong Zhuo wanted to mint bad money, not because Dong Zhuo liked bad money, but because of the huge military and financial expenditures at that time. In addition, Dong Zhuo kept a large amount of currency himself and did not take it out for circulation. As a result, there was no copper in the court to mint money to pay. The corresponding expenses were such that they had to start minting lighter weight or lower fine coins to use them to pay the salaries of officials and soldiers.

Dong Zhuo's behavior was the prelude to large-scale piracy of coins.

Because it is very simple, small-scale imitation is actually not very profitable, and because in order to make profits, there will inevitably be certain differences in imitation coins, and this difference can be noticed even by illiterate folk leaders in Guizhou, so small-scale imitation In fact, counterfeit coins are not easy to circulate, nor can they bring great economic benefits to the counterfeiters. Only when the court openly creates large-scale bad money and implements it with mandatory orders is the perfect opportunity to counterfeit coins!

Therefore, in fact, the amount of bad money that Dong Zhuo minted at that time was not the largest, and the so-called "private stealing" of the Shandong gentry was the root cause of the collapse of the five-baht coin currency system.

In terms of price inflation, there are differences between ancient times and later generations. In ancient times, it was mostly trapezoidal with a plateau period, while in later generations it was a slope, rolling all the way down.

Because in ancient times, unless the central court premeditatedly accumulated a large amount of old coins and quickly minted them into new coins and put them on the market in a short period of time, the so-called "people" had enough time to prepare private casting tools and communicate with the central court. Compete for minting profits. However, the reason why the central court overcoined coins was often due to financial pressure. If there were already a large number of old coins in the national treasury, why would they use overcoining?

Therefore, most of the central courts who choose to mint indiscriminately are unable to compete with "private" pirates, and they cannot capture much profit from minting. This also explains the trapezoidal characteristics of ancient currency value changes. In the ancient coinage economy, unless the central court was extremely short-sighted, it would not initiate over-coining. Once over-coining started, theft would add fuel to the fire, causing Rapid inflation.

So is there any use in governing by law?

It's useful, but it can't stop the influx of desperate people...

It is recorded in the "Book of Han" that during Wang Mang's period, "every time money was exchanged, the people's business was ruined and they were severely punished." He died by casting money privately... The one who cast money privately to make spring cloth was buried with his wife as an official slave; when an official was competing with others, he knew it but did not complain, and he was guilty of the same crime... The offender Yu Zhong, and the five people sitting next to each other were all buried, The iron locks on the chariots and carriages in the prefecture and country were sent to the bell officials of Chang'an, and sixty-seven people died in sorrow. 』

"Therefore, by collecting old coins, we can eliminate the disadvantages of private and stolen coins, and we can also measure the value of copper dishes and copperware." Fei Qian concluded. Of course, recycling old coins actually has other additional functions...

Xun You naturally didn't understand advanced economic theories, but he also guessed some of Fei Qian's potential intentions, which were probably directed towards the noble family, so he showed that recycling also requires expenses and costs, but since Fei Qian Qian insists, Xun You will not object.

Xun You sighed in his heart, a wise ruler and a minister will naturally not dare to fall... A ruler like Fei Qian is too shrewd. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

In fact, Fei Qian's first purpose of recycling coins is to stimulate the economy.

There is an old saying in China, sow melons and you will get beans, so there is a joke that some people plant coins in the soil to pray for more money. But the funny thing is that in ancient times, when some people did this, It is true that a lot of benefits can be obtained.

Because of money shortage.

The Chinese feudal dynasty had a very thorny problem, which was money shortage. When the economy reaches a certain stage and requires more and larger amounts of money and coins, the central court cannot provide so many coins and has to start minting low-quality and light-weight coins for emergencies. These "folk" Guys who grow coins will swarm out, dig out copperware and silver melons from the ground, and then compete with the central court for the profits from minting.

Even regardless of the issue of private coining and piracy, these wealthy noble families accumulated money from generation to generation, melted it into copper, silver, melons, and fruits, and then buried them underground in their own homes, which invisibly reduced the number of coins circulating in the market. The final result was that the central court's production of silver and copper increased year by year, but it could not keep up with demand, leading to a long-term money shortage in the market, which ultimately led to economic damage.

For example, after Liu Da'er entered Sichuan, it was also because of the large amount of rewards that the original copper coins in Sichuan and Sichuan became the inventory of heroes. As a result, there was a shortage of copper in the market, and Liu Da'er had to do something. Hundreds of dollars, but the economy suddenly collapsed. It took Brother Zhu more than ten years to get back to normal.

Naturally, Fei Qian couldn't explain this issue clearly, because he knew that the more forbidden it was, the more these wealthy nobles would be aware of the mystery, and the more they would do it!

It's like private casting.

The second purpose of Feiqian is anti-corrosion.

The third purpose is to promote silver and gold to enter market transactions earlier and faster.

In the Han Dynasty, silver and gold were basically gifts. Even though Fei used silver coins and gold coins now, they were still rarely used for specific transactions among the people. Therefore, only copper coins were rotated out, which made more people subconsciously Choose high-value currencies with longer trading times. When silver and gold become a member of the monetary system from precious metals, the demand for silver and gold will surge.

However, there is not much silver and gold in China, or it is not enough to meet the economic needs of the general public. Therefore, if guided, these greedy gentry will inevitably turn their attention to places rich in silver and gold. Like a great voyage...

Otherwise, at this stage, talking about silver and gold to noble families may not be very attractive to these families. It would be more practical to continue to think of various ways to embezzle land.

Pang Tong was good at military and political affairs, and his intelligence was excellent, but he also had flaws. He basically didn't understand economic and commercial issues, while Xun You knew a little about basic economic knowledge, but he still had some deficiencies at a deeper level, so both of them were very concerned about it. Fei Qian didn’t have much emotion or reaction to this new regulation, and he wasn’t very clear about Fei Qian’s deep-seated purposes.

Fei Qian divided the new coins as small gifts for Xun You and Pang Tong, and then talked about the next topic, "Li Changshi sent people to send some horses from the Western Regions and various utensils. I don't know what you two have." idea? 』

Pang Tong shook the coins in his hand, making a slight jingling sound, and then said, "My lord, do you want to sell it?" 』

"Um? Fei Qian looked at Pang Tong and said with a smile, "Exactly!" 』

Xun You frowned slightly and said softly: "Now that the war in the Western Region has started again, I am afraid that the food and grass will be damaged again..."

Fei Qian nodded, "Gongda's concerns are not unreasonable... This is also the difference between Hu and Han. If war costs money and food, why do the Hu people gain more, while the Chinese lose more?" Therefore, maybe from now on, there should be some differences..."

Xun You said, "My lord, your intention is to use things from the Western Regions to make up for the losses?" 』

Fei Qian waved his hand and said, "This is one of them." If we only know how to plunder, how are we different from barbarians? In the past, during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu, he had a great victory over the Xiongnu and captured millions of cattle and sheep. What was the benefit? Is the national treasury rich because of this? Therefore, looting can only be gained for a while, but not for a lifetime..."

Although there are differences in farming and nomadic habits, or in technology, they also reflect a common problem in Chinese tradition.

Just like some people, when evaluating things, they often say that this is rubbish and that is cheap, and they seem to despise everything. However, some people can turn waste into treasure and find business opportunities for many years. From now on, those who despise this and that are trash will still work with trash, while those who have found business opportunities have become extremely wealthy and become environmental defenders.

Therefore, Fei Qian had no way to make proper arrangements because of insufficient conditions before, but now in the Western Region, he can implement what Fei Qian has always wanted to do.

"A certain person wants to invite investment..." Fei Qian said slowly.

Fei Qian looked around and seemed to see question marks above Pang Tong and Xun You's heads, so he stopped and explained the meaning of the word "investment".

According to Bearded Ma's point of view, human labor can create value, so no matter which dynasty it is, the overall social wealth will definitely increase with the continuous labor of its people, especially for such a hard-working nation as China, It should be that wealth is constantly accumulating and increasing, but why do we always see many descriptions in history that the national treasury is constantly in deficit, and there is nothing but rats in the warehouses of the household department?

Then some people say that the emperor spent money indiscriminately and was extravagant. But from another perspective, the money spent should have been in the emperor's treasury and was not circulated, but now it is purchased through high or low prices. , eventually flowed to the market, replenishing the currency in circulation in the entire market. According to the so-called left pocket right pocket theory, shouldn’t it reduce the country’s wealth?

Therefore, it is obvious that the theory of left pocket to right pocket is false. In actual reality, this money will be continuously embezzled and reduced during the circulation process until there is nothing left. Level after level of officials took advantage of the situation, and then when it came to the people, not only did they not receive corresponding financial compensation, they even had to pay it back!

As for the misappropriated accounts, it was inconvenient for officials to spend them directly, which led to three results. One was that luxury goods were inflated, especially those broken stones from the Western Regions; the other was that a large amount of money was stored. The funds were raised and no longer circulated, causing the country to continue to be short of money; the third aspect is that these funds, without a suitable destination, naturally flowed to the most important resource of the farming nation, land.

Pang Tong looked at Fei Qian, and suddenly had a bad premonition, and said tentatively: "Could it be that... the Lord wants someone..."

Fei Qian laughed loudly and said, "He who knows me is a scholar!" However, Shi Yuan does not need to do it himself, he only needs to control and manage... This matter can be left to Cui Pei and others to issue bonds for a period of five years on the grounds of the Western Region..."

Pang Tong's hand touching his chin seemed to feel relaxed.

Xun You's eyebrows moved because he thought that the year of this so-called bond seemed to be the same as the exchange period of old and new coins. Was it something Fei Qian had set up...

These war horses and utensils sent from the Western Regions will be a window to display the wealth of the Western Regions.

Fei Qian planned to issue commercial bonds for this Western Region war, not only to solve the problem of his own consumption, but also to absorb the idle wealth of the people and provide a channel for financial management, so that the wealth accumulated by the wealthy noble families was not entirely limited to land.

From a certain perspective, it can be regarded as a carrot handed out after beating, but it is also another means to strengthen the control of the wealthy noble families.

As the saying goes, it is the grandfather who owes money and the grandson who borrows money. If you hold all the money of the nobles in your hands, it is almost equivalent to holding the lifeblood of the nobles. Don't you want to make the nobles be tough and be soft when giving them softness? Later generations have watched the financial and diplomatic strategies of the United States for more than ten years. It makes no sense but they only know how to understand it but not how to use it?

The issuer of the bonds is handed over to the current four major merchants, Cui Peizhenzhuo, and Bai Shiqiang...

Well, why are there five people among the Big Four?

This seems to be a common practice...