The King of Qin swept Liuhe, established a unified monetary system, and promoted "half a penny" to the six countries, which became a milestone in China's monetary history. Han inherited the Qin system, but the monetary system was not directly inherited, but reformed quite frequently.
Lv Hou promoted "80 cents", Emperor Wen of Han allowed private coin casting, Emperor Jing withdrew the right to coin casting and prohibited private coin casting. After experiencing "five baht money in the county" and "five baht money in the red", the "three officials and five baht money" was finally established as the official currency of the Han Dynasty, which has been used ever since.
However, with the disintegration of centralization, money, which needs strong credit as the backing, encountered an extremely serious crisis, and even produced a "currency trade war" in the Three Kingdoms period.
(Qin Ban Liang Qian)
This story begins with a sentence that inspired the soldiers when Liu Bei entered Sichuan: before Liu Bei started from scratch and seized Yizhou, he agreed with the soldiers: "If this matter is settled, there is everything in the treasure house, so it is impossible to seek more." . It means that if Yizhou is laid, then I won't take any treasure from Yizhou's treasury, it's all yours. That's easy to say. When Liu Zhang opened the gates of Chengdu to surrender, Liu Bei's men laid down their weapons and rushed to the treasures of Chengdu.
Yizhou is a remote place with slow development. In addition, the soldiers were so honest and frank, which directly led to Liu Bei's lack of military spending.
Then Liu Ba made a suggestion: 1. Recast the present five baht money and change it to three times the original weight (about 7 grams now), and the value is 100 times of the original money (Liu Bei's recast money this time is 100 yuan, literally, the value is 100 times). 2. The government stepped in to stabilize the market and earned a hundredfold of this money? Direct hundred yuan can be circulated normally (AD 2 14).
People who make rules rarely participate in games. Liu Bei completed the promotion of this policy with his own sword, thus gaining the ability to buy military materials in Yizhou indefinitely? In a few months, the national treasury will be enriched. But we don't need to think about how smart Liu Ba is. During the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Bei was really not the first person to do so. Who was the first person to taste the sweetness? Later, I will talk about it.
It should be noted that at this time, the modification of the monetary system did not have such a great impact on the bottom people, because in the ancient self-sufficient ecology of China, the purchasing power of the bottom people was very limited, and there were not many deposits, so it was almost impossible to use money directly. But for enriching the people, this is undoubtedly naked plunder.
(chi: there is a word "Wei" on the back, which is said to have been written by Zhuge Liang)
Liu Bei tasted the sweetness of changing the rules of the game, but Soochow said he was hurt. During the Three Kingdoms period, Shu and Wu were closely linked and often joined forces to deal with Wei, which was geographically close. Therefore, Shu often buys materials in Soochow with new coins, and the money flows to Soochow, but the currency used in Soochow is still the same. Five baht (2 grams).
As a result, a large amount of five baht money from Soochow was circulated to Shu, and after three or four pieces were put together and recast, the denomination was doubled to 100 yuan, and I went back to Soochow to buy things. As a result, the five baht money became less and less, and it flowed to Shu with the materials, which is the famous theory of "bad money drives out good money" in economics. Straight hundred yuan is three times the weight of five baht, and its value has doubled, so the fool continues to use five baht.
Sun Quan's economic situation is originally "he is my brother" with Liu Bei, and the economic situation in Wu is not the same as that in Shu. Jiangnan is very prosperous and has always been an important producer of hard currency products such as grain, prey, seafood and pearls. The people are very rich, and Zhang, Gu, Lu and Zhu are all richer than Sun Quan. Under the threat of Shu, Sun Quan also began to fiddle with coins.
Since casting big money can paint folk materials indefinitely, why can't I do what Liu Bei can do? Sun Quan did as he said, and cast "Daquan 500", weighing 20g, literally, worth 500 times of five baht (AD 236)! Sun Quan used this 500 times money to buy copper from the people, and then made money to buy it again, and soon realized his "wealth freedom", no longer subject to the four big families. And the depreciation rate of five baht is faster than that of Shu Han! This became the material that Shu Han flowed to Soochow.
(Sun's money: Daquan 500)
In this case, Shu Han did not continue to increase the denomination of banknotes, but began to reduce the weight! Even the copper bedstead was torn down and used to cast money! Originally 7g copper, the value was 100 yuan, and 7g was reduced to 0.5g! It's worth a hundred dollars! It's not that I don't want to be light. Only 0.5g was close to the limit of the process at that time. A thin piece can't be carved at all, and it is crisp and sharp, and can even be used as a hidden weapons. This kind of money is really ugly, but useful! The direct currency of Shu Han increased by more than ten times, and the materials of Dongwu continued to flow to Shu Han.
Sun Quan was simple and rude, and "Five Hundred Springs" was not enough, so "Thousand Springs" reached 65,438+ten thousand times (AD 238), and the series of "Big Springs", "Two Thousand Springs" and "Five Thousand Springs" continued to be released! Ordinary people are full of "money" and can't even find it!
Such a fierce trade war made the economies of Wu and Shu countries on the verge of collapse soon, and vicious inflation caused great difficulties to the daily transactions of ordinary people, and ordinary people began to stop buying it. In 246 AD, Sun Quan abolished large bills, making it difficult for large bills from Wu and Shu to continue circulating in Wu. However, Shu survived under the careful management of Zhuge Liang. But Zhuge Liang also had to admit: "The profit has been exhausted." In fact, under Zhuge Liang's management, Shu's economy has not collapsed and has been struggling to support it. Wang Fuzhi, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, commented that Zhuge Liang "is not short of money, but only seeks public satisfaction".
In such a chaotic currency transaction, why did Wei, one of the three countries, drift away? The reason is not the bad relationship with Wei, but the game that Wei has played to change the currency trading system.
When Dong Zhuo moved his capital to Luoyang in the chaos, his finances were already very poor. He also ordered the casting of "small money" (AD 190). Dong Zhuozhu's "Little Money" uses very little copper and cannot be carved. People call it "money as poor as a church mouse". Despite this saving, Dong Zhuo's copper coins are still not enough. Although it didn't reach the point where Liu Bei later dismantled the bed, the 12 bronze man cast by Qin Shihuang's weapons in the world was also cast by Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuozhu's small money quickly flowed into the market, causing inflation, currency depreciation and soaring prices.
(Dong Zhuozhu's small money uses very little material)
In 208 AD, Cao Cao became prime minister. Seeing this situation, he ordered the abolition of small money and the resumption of the circulation of five baht. This decision is one of the few very wise decisions made by the rulers in the history of the Three Kingdoms. People soon settled down and lived and worked in peace.
After Cao Pi ascended the throne, in 22 1 year, Cao Pi was eager to display his talents and ordered the abolition of five baht, using grain and cloth as the "currency" for trading. This is actually very understandable. At this time, a large number of bad money produced by Shu and Wu entered the Wei market, and Wei also experienced a crisis of soaring prices. In doing so, Cao Pi is "radical", so I simply won't play with you. I'm going to start a new monetary system.
However, this method soon showed its shortcomings. "Money has been wasted for a long time, and there are more and more clever fakes in the world, so we compete for profits in the wet valley and let BoSi think of the market." Ordinary people are not stupid, and there are many smart people. The more money Shuhe earns, the easier it is. Can't I do something? So the millet is getting wetter and heavier, the cloth is getting thinner and the weight is getting smaller and smaller. ...
In 227 AD, Cao Rui ascended the throne, so he quickly stopped this chaos, restored the five baht, and persisted. Although he faced great economic pressure, he was able to stick it out.
This maintained the stability of Wei's domestic market and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. After Zhuge Liang came out of Qishan, he found that the people were "not thinking about Han" under the rule of Wei, which had a lot to do with the market stability of Wei.
It seems that there are many talents in the Three Kingdoms, but behind the war, it is inseparable from the support of the economy. Shu began to cast "straight hundred dollars", Soochow continued to cast, Cao Wei continued to cast, and Cao Wei could carry it. These measures are closely related to the domestic economic strength. In the late Shu and Han dynasties, the "straight hundred money" became thinner and thinner. If Zhuge Liang lives a few more years, I'm afraid he will never return to heaven. Reminiscent of these, it is no accident that the three countries were finally unified in Jin, which was born by Wei.
References:
History of Three Kingdoms
Zhang Youzhi, China's general theory of physical currency
Chen Yanliang's Long-term Inflation in the Eastern Han Dynasty
Analysis on the influence of monetary policy on social economy during the Three Kingdoms period