For the history of the Three Kingdoms, the public, including professional scholars, mainly pay attention to and study political changes and military struggles, and the monetary economy and its political consequences have long been despised or even ignored. Professor Chen pointed out that in the monetary economy, the three countries have become the most familiar strangers.

the book of Jin? "Foodstuffs" says: "In the second year of Huang Chu, Wei Wendi stopped paying five baht, making the people take grain and silk as the market. By Ming Di's time, money had been wasted in the valley for a long time, and there were more and more clever fakes in the world. They competed for wet valleys for profit and made thin silk as a market. Although they were severely punished, they could not be banned. " Professor Chen cited this as evidence that Wei Wendi does not coin money, so people can barter things, and there is almost no currency in the market, which of course belongs to the category of natural economy.

Wei Mingdi issued five baht of Cao Wei for the purpose of large-scale construction. Professor Chen found that the money was "rough, unkempt, with many burrs on the outer edge, too big inside, and light and thin." The shape and quality are similar to those of the end of the Han Dynasty. " However, the five baht for cutting the wheel and the five baht for writing do not meet the legal value. In other words, this is the currency under inflation. In a word, Cao Wei's monetary policy of deflation and inflation has a great negative impact on social economy, resulting in serious consequences of inconvenience to officials and people. Professor Chen believes that this is also part of the reason why Sima usurped Wei.

Shu Han is generally regarded as the weakest regime in the Three Kingdoms period, but it is quite strange that although Shu Han was the first to die, there was no serious political turmoil like Cao Wei and Sun Wu. Previous studies did not pay attention to the monetary policy of Shu Han. Professor Chen emphasized that this is an important missing link in understanding the history of Shu Han and even the whole Three Kingdoms.

The History of the Three Kingdoms quotes the legend of the sages of Lingling: "(Liu Bei) pulled Chengdu, and all the scholars gave up fighting and went to Tibet to compete for treasures. We are worried about the lack of military use. (Liu) Ba said,' It's easy to hear, but it's time to cast a hundred dollars straight, level all the prices, and make officials an official city.' Prepare for it, and within a few months, the treasury will be enriched. "After Liu Bei occupied Sichuan, he cast a hundred and fifty baht, which was worth one hundred (five baht in the Eastern Han Dynasty). In theory, its color should be one hundred times that of five baht.

Chen Yanliang proved that the actual value of Zhibaiwuzhu was lower than its legal value through the investigation of unearthed physical evidence. In other words, the issuance of this money is actually inflation. Professor Chen also analyzed that due to the collapse of the trading system caused by serious inflation in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the money in Shu Han was relatively acceptable to the people. This kind of "limited inflation" basically supports the social and economic development of Shu and Han, which is also the monetary and economic historical reason for its relatively stable political situation.

Compared with Shu Han, Sun Wu was seriously inflated. The reflection? Wu Shu? Biography of Master Wu says: "In the spring of the fifth year of China (Jiahe), we made a lot of money, and each time it was 5. The imperial edict made the officials and the people lose copper, and the copper was straight. Set up a branch of stealing casting. " This "Biography" goes: "In the spring of the first year of Chiwu, it was cast as a thousand dollars." The actual value of this kind of legal money is seriously lower than its legal value, and the later the quality of the money is lighter. Therefore, Sun Wu has been in a state of inflation for a long time, which has caused serious harm to the social economy.

Professor Chen emphasized that according to the study of archaeological objects, the coins unearthed in many tombs of Sun Wu accounted for the vast majority, while the coins made by Sun Wu were very few. It can be seen that the inflation coins cast by Sun Wu are far from enough for social and economic development. In this regard, there is also serious deflation in Sunwu area. To sum up, Sun Wu's regime was characterized by serious inflation and deflation. History books often record that Sun Wu's economic backwardness and internal turmoil coexist at the same time. From the perspective of monetary and economic history, it is not surprising. Why was the monetary situation in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties so chaotic?

in addition to the "medieval natural economy theory" of the whole Han Dynasty, Tao Xisheng said in the Economic History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties that this was an era of currency chaos. Although the generalizations of Quan and Tao are more accurate, they can't explain the causes of currency chaos in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Professor Chen Yanliang believes that studying the history of monetary economy, like political history, not only explains how history develops, but also explains why history develops.

Du You's General Code? Food goods "says:" The original husband's intention of making money is sincere and far-reaching. All things can't be counted, and there are numbers, but they must be set up and owned by one thing. Its gold and silver are stuck in the ornaments, and the grain and silk suffer from the fracture of the load. It is only money, but it can be traded, and it does not live like a spring. If the grain is a market, it will not only mention the disadvantages of fracture, but also be difficult to use it. " Professor Chen said that this generalization has almost pointed out all the crux of the currency problem in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Du You means that the most important function of money is the measure of value. The function of monetary value scale can often be performed because there are too many, too few, too many kinds, unfavorable exchange, and rapid changes in weight or color. Once inflation, deflation or confusion occur, the liquidity function of money will not be able to function normally, and the social and economic development will be damaged, or even return to a more primitive barter state.

Professor Chen said that Du Youzhi's theory is deeply in line with modern monetary economics theory, which can explain the chaotic monetary situation in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. As mentioned above, the rulers of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties rarely cast money for a long time. Once they started casting, they were all fake money, that is, inflation, which led to the waste of money, and the original high-quality and good money was hoarded in large quantities, which led to deflation. As a result, inflation and deflation are rampant at the same time, resulting in a structural dilemma of social economy.

Then, why didn't the rulers at that time take effective measures to stop the coexistence of inflation, deflation and monetary chaos? Professor Chen concluded that the incumbent's lack of foresight, bureaucracy and constant war are the three main reasons. These three reasons are mutually causal with currency chaos, which led to the overall backwardness of politics, economy and military affairs in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Professor Chen finally cited Gao Cheng of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi Dynasties as an example, who once put forward a policy of laissez-faire coinage that was exactly the same as that of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty. Unfortunately, ministers opposed it out of self-interest, so they failed to implement it. And Gao Cheng was assassinated by a general soon after he put forward this proposal, and the only hope of successfully rectifying the currency system in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties disappeared.