There is also a saying that the Yong 'an iron coin mentioned above was cast by Liu Shouguang, the son of Liu Rengong, after he proclaimed himself emperor in Youzhou. Yong 'an money has a short circulation time. In the following 1000 years, people didn't even know who made it and where it was used. Besides, the number of surviving worlds is very small, which is even more mysterious. It was not until the Republic of China that people basically understood its ins and outs.
Liu Rengong is the worst villain in the history of coins in China. The mud money he invented has a postscript, which is also worth mentioning.
After the demise of the Tang Dynasty, it was followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. A "post-Tang" regime emerged in the Five Dynasties, which was established by Li's killing of Liu Rengong. Li is a brave general on the battlefield, but he is extremely groggy in governing the country. He often paints his face in pink ink, puts on his costume and performs on stage, regardless of state affairs. He also took actors as his eyes and ears, spying on the words and deeds of ministers, causing resentment among the ruling and opposition parties. Li Keyong's adopted son Li Siyuan was so popular that he couldn't stand the player any longer, so he sent his troops to attack Lee. In the melee, Li was killed by mutinous soldiers and pro-army, and Li Siyuan proclaimed himself emperor with the support of ministers. This is Zoroastrianism in the later Tang Dynasty. Mingzong was the most wise monarch in the whole Five Dynasties. After he ascended the throne, he decided to cast new money, so he asked his liegeman to submit a list of coins of the previous dynasty for reference. Guo Zaihui, who was in charge of drawing up the list, even included Liu Rengong's mud money and iron money in the list. Mingzong was very angry when he saw it: You are cursing me. Who is Liu Rengong? He earns mud money, not for economic construction, but for harming people. After scolding, Guo Zaihui was demoted.
However, after Emperor Tang Ming did not forget the money hidden by Liu Rengong, he once dug for treasures in Da 'anshan with great fanfare. According to the "History of the Old Five Dynasties", there was an official Gao Pan in Youzhou at that time. He wrote that he knew where Liu Rengong hid his money in Da 'anshan. The Privy Council (Ministry of National Defense) immediately sent someone to supervise the excavation, but the result was "nothing". Da 'an Mountain is more than 80 miles northwest of Fangshan District, Beijing. The treasure house is on the mountain.
However, friends who like to read notes on grave robbery, wait and be happy-because this treasure was dug up by Emperor Sheng Zong of Liao Dynasty more than 1000 years ago, and all the copper coins dug up were used to cast new coins.
As for whether there is any residue, it is not known. If you have friends who never give up, you might as well visit them.
People use chickens, fish, ducks and geese as "money"
In addition to the above, there are some currencies in the Tang Dynasty that should be explained.
In the late Tang Dynasty, there were two kinds of "Bao Tong" within the jurisdiction of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty, one was "Dali Yuanbao" and the other was "Jianzhong Bao Tong", which were considered as local coins and mainly circulated locally.
At that time, a riding country suddenly appeared in the western regions, which was a nomadic regime. It once lived in the hometown of Li Bai-Broken Leaf City (now tokmak, Kyrgyzstan). After Wu Zetian's death, this small country formally belonged to the Tang Dynasty, guarding the western border for the Tang Dynasty. Tang Zhongzong appointed their leader "King of Wilders". This sudden riding country has cast a unique square-hole round banknote, which is the same as Kaiyuan money, but Qian Wen is in Sogdian.
This Sogdian language is a written language in eastern Iran in the Middle Ages. The people who can understand this language in modern China are the South China Tiger in academic circles, and probably just some masters such as Chen Yinque, Ji Xianlin and Zhou Yiliang.
In addition, in the extinct hometown of Gao Changguo, there was a "Western Zhou Uighur" in the Tang Dynasty, which was also a nomadic people. They also made a kind of imitation Kaiyuan money, and Qian Wen was a Uighur. Uighur was called "Uighur" in the early Tang Dynasty, and later it was renamed "Uighur"-is this name familiar? By the way, they are the ancestors of today's Uighurs. The copper coins in these two minority languages are of great significance, from which we can see how deeply China culture influenced the western regions at that time.
In addition to these coins, the types of money in the Tang Dynasty are actually quite rich. Because the Tang Dynasty did not get rid of the trouble of "lack of money" from beginning to end, the central government of the Tang Dynasty especially advocated the monetization of grain and silk. Tang Wenzong even stipulates that in the transaction, if the amount exceeds 100 yuan, only half of the money, grain and cloth can be used. To make matters worse, Tang Wuzong, the emperor who destroyed the Buddha, stipulated that if there were more than five transactions, half of the money would be grain and silk. In some remote areas, because there are too few copper coins in circulation, ordinary people will automatically replace coins with physical objects without government promotion.
At that time, salt and cloth were used as money in the marginal areas of Pakistan. In Wuxia area, mercury, cinnabar, ivory, colored silk and headscarves are used as currency (see Tang). The customs in Hanzhong area are even more rustic. Not only is cash rarely used, but also cloth and silk are rarely used. When ordinary people go to the market, they all barter things. For example, if they want to buy salt, they can change a catty of hemp or a silk or chicken, fish, ducks and geese. This kind of "primitive trade", although it seems complicated to transform, is very convenient for ordinary people (see Yuan Zhen's Collection of Money and Things). During the Tang Dynasty, this place in Yunnan was called Nanzhaoguo, which was the hometown of Duan Yu, the "little prince" in Jin Yong's novel Tian Ba Long Bu. Nanzhao never used metal currency, but used shell currency and silk.
Although there were various currencies in the Tang Dynasty, gold and silver were not officially included in the currency sequence. In the third year of Yuanhe in the middle Tang Dynasty (808), silver mining was once prohibited. However, even if gold and silver are no longer legal tender, they still have the function of money among the people. In Lingnan, due to the developed foreign trade, people even only regard gold and silver as money.
Wei Zhuang, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, also said in his famous poem "Ode to Fu Qin" that at the time of Huang Chao, Chang 'an had a bucket of gold and a liter of millet. It seems that under special circumstances, gold can also be used as payment. There is no doubt about this: gold and silver are always associated with "treasure" Some things, although claimed to be wealth, are very empty. For example, stocks, funds, futures and stock index futures are just book figures. If you put money in it, if it is "virtual" to you, you will never understand how it is "virtual".