At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang, a relative of the Han clan, proclaimed himself emperor on behalf of the Han Dynasty and changed the name of the country to "Xin". In order to alleviate the already acute social, political and economic conflicts at that time, the so-called Tuogu restructuring was carried out. In the land system It reversed the trend towards private ownership of land at that time, re-strengthened the state-owned system of land, and announced the re-implementation of the long-extinct well-field system. In terms of the monetary system, Wang Mang was even more ingenious. He abolished the five-baht coin and introduced various monetary policies and monetary forms. According to the "Ancient Money Dictionary", the copper coins introduced by Wang Mang include:
One sword is equal to five thousand. It was cast in the second year of Jushe (7 AD). The two characters of "Yida" are made of gold, so it is called "Jin Tao Dao". One sword is equivalent to five baht and five thousand coins. It is about 7.3 centimeters long. , weighing 20-40 grams; in the same year, five hundred contract knives were also cast, and one sword was used as the equivalent of five hundred coins.
Six springs: namely, the small spring is straight, the small spring is ten, the young spring is twenty, the middle spring is thirty, the strong spring is forty, and the big spring is fifty. Among the six springs, the differences between adjacent springs are small and difficult to distinguish.
Ten cloths: 100 small cloths, 200 small cloths, 300 small cloths, 400 preface cloths, 500 poor cloths, 600 medium cloths, 700 strong cloths, and 8th third cloths. One hundred, the second cloth is nine hundred, the big cloth is yellow thousand. From small cloth to large cloth, each one is one point longer and one heavier than each other, and its value is increased by one hundred. Again, because the difference is small, it is difficult to distinguish.
Goods cloth, cast in the first year of Tianfeng (AD 10), parallel to the currency springs, one piece of cloth serves as currency springs for twenty-five pieces, about 506 centimeters long and weighing about 16.5 grams.
Huoquan, cast in the first year of Tianfeng, has a diameter of about 2.2-2.4 cm and a weight of about 2.8-3.6 grams. There is also currency cake money.
Buquan, cast in the later period of Wang Mang, has a diameter of about 2.6 centimeters and a weight of about 3.5 grams.
In addition, according to "China's Feudal Social and Economic History" edited by Tian Changwu, the currencies introduced by Wang Mang include second-grade silver goods and fourth-grade turtle treasures, and there are all kinds of them.
Wang Mang's currency reform is all a comical move that violates economic laws and is inappropriate for the times. Some of them are almost child's play. Wang Mang violated the development laws of currency from complexity to simplicity, from variety to unity, from physical objects to metals, and from low-grade metals to high-grade metals, so he was destined to fail. And these mediocre and incompetent rulers in the past dynasties always thought that they were right, and they had to agree with their opinions. Fei suffered a head injury and even lost his life.
What kind of knowledge and enlightenment can we gain from collecting, sorting and appreciating these ancient coins? I believe that the development of currency has its own laws, and the government’s intervention in the monetary system will We must follow the development laws of currency itself. If you follow them and comply with them, you can promote social and economic development and improve people's livelihood; if you violate them and destroy them, you will hinder social development, harm people's livelihood, and even end up burying yourself.