Xuande

Chapter 673 General Money

The coin casting in the Eastern Han Dynasty was different from that in the Western Han Dynasty. In the Western Han Dynasty, the imperial court made money by itself. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the minting power was delegated to the local counties and counties, which were responsible for the specific casting matters.

The department of the Luoyang court that manages currency casting is Jincao under Taiwei, but it only conducts macro-control and does not personally participate in specific currency casting.

He only directs major policies and does not do anything specific. Of course, under the current situation, Jin Cao's role is infinitely close to zero, and no one will pay attention to what he says.

The emergence of this kind of situation probably has a lot to do with the fact that the Eastern Han government did not pay much attention to the minting and circulation of currency. Think about developing a commodity and currency economy.

For them, currency means instability in a sense, and they only pursue stable rule, and the currency economy does not mean much to them.

There are even a considerable number of officials in the court who hope that the economic situation will degenerate to the era of bartering. It may be better for everyone to barter instead of currency.

Under this kind of monetary policy, the five baht coins that prevailed throughout the Eastern Han Dynasty are very problematic. The copper content, casting process and money styles are different, so that not only local counties can cast money, but private Can make money.

Not to mention that the entire currency circulation field is clean, it can also be regarded as a group of demons dancing wildly.

The coins minted in some places are of better quality and have a higher copper content, but the coins minted in other places are very inferior, not only looking ugly, but also containing relatively low copper content.

And people often exchange low-quality coins for high-quality coins, and then hide the high-quality coins without using them. Over time, the market is full of low-quality coins with a copper content of less than 60.00% or even [-]%.

With the continuous decline of the economic situation at the end of the Han Dynasty, the copper content of coins was getting lower and lower, and the face value was getting smaller and smaller, and people's trust in bad coins was getting lower and lower. Once again bartering has emerged.

This situation was particularly obvious in Liangzhou at the beginning.

When Liu Bei first took control of Liangzhou, there was almost no currency transactions in the Liangzhou area, and all bulk goods were bartered, even small-scale private commerce was the same, and there were even requirements for monetary rewards for the army, which must be high-quality currency. You can't use inferior currency to make up for money——

The big soldiers understand the difference between high-quality currency and low-quality currency quite well. If you want to use low-quality currency to fool the big soldiers, you have to ask the steel knife in the big soldier's hand for an answer.

This situation is naturally unhealthy, and it cannot meet Liu Bei's needs. It is also quite difficult to collect taxes. Of course, it is easier to collect currency, but the value of currency is different. It is cumbersome, and Liu Bei is too busy.

Faced with this economic situation, Liu Bei's response method is to make money by himself.

Liu Bei used the copper he seized and the copper mine he controlled to cast the current five baht coin himself, which was generally called Liangzhou coin in the local area at first.

Its copper content is allocated according to 80.00% five, which is basically the highest peak of ancient coins, and it is also a highly reputable copper content.

It is not enough to mint money by yourself, but to mint high-quality currency by yourself will also cause the economic phenomenon of bad money driving out good money, making Liangzhou money a collection, and causing Liu Bei to suffer heavy losses. He spent a long time just making wedding dresses for others.

So Liu Bei thought of a good way.

Link your own coins to Liangzhou fine salt.

At that time, Liangzhou Fine Salt was widely spread in Liangzhou following Liu Bei's scheming methods, and it was also fully spread in trade with the Qiang people and even some areas in the Western Regions. Liangzhou Fine Salt defeated all opponents and became the only local seller. For table salt, everyone only recognizes Liangzhou fine salt, and does not accept other salts.

Of course, there is no other table salt for sale in the entire Liangzhou area.

Therefore, Liu Bei linked this crucial flagship product related to the national economy and the people's livelihood with Liangzhou money, making it have a reputation far beyond anyone's imagination.

Moreover, Liangzhou money must also enter the field of circulation—Liu Bei stipulated that the purchase of Liangzhou fine salt can only be purchased with Liangzhou money minted by the Liangzhou government. Coins from other places will not be accepted, nor will any means of barter be accepted. , must be purchased with Liangzhou money.

It doesn't work to take Shu brocade, it doesn't sell, and only Liangzhou money is accepted.

No Liangzhou money?
Yes, first take goods of equivalent value or coins from other places to exchange for Liangzhou money according to the actual value. Liangzhou has a special money exchange office with official configurations and fair prices.

Then in exchange for Liangzhou money, go to the official or some private salt shops to buy Liangzhou fine salt.

All in all, if you don't take Liangzhou money, you can't even think about buying salt.

People need to eat salt, and this alone can ensure the commercial circulation of Liangzhou money.

And through the channel of the money exchange, Liu Bei successfully collected a large number of privately minted five baht coins in local areas. He did some research on these five baht coins and found that there were not only coins from the Eastern Han Dynasty, but also coins from the Western Han Dynasty. The coins can be traced back to the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

Some valuable coins were kept by Liu Bei as a collection, carefully preserved for handing down from generation to generation, and the rest of the low-quality coins were recast by him as raw materials for casting Liangzhou coins, and then put into circulation again.

In this way, a cycle of good money driving out bad money was formed in the Liangzhou trade zone.

In response to the possibility of counterfeit coins, Liu Bei also took some targeted measures.

First of all, under his decree, local counties were not allowed to mint money. Liu Bei sent people to take over the local copper mines, and the coin miners were also registered and managed in a unified way, which directly cut off the possibility of minting money in local counties.

However, private coin casting has a certain degree of secrecy and is not easy to find out.

However, the coins of the Liangzhou government have a very high casting process. The Liangzhou coins are relatively large in size, heavy in weight, and have a special pattern. The pattern is designed by Liu Bei himself. It takes a lot of work to fake it.

Private coins generally do not have high craftsmanship, and there are not so many tricks in pattern design, and Liu Bei is not as willing to give copper. It is easy to distinguish the difference between Liangzhou coins and private coins.

Therefore, once five baht coins that are not Liangzhou coins appear on the market, the currency supervision departments set up by Liu Bei in various places will immediately find out, and then report to the county government for targeted investigation and crackdown.

After all, there are only a small number of families that can privately mint coins, so Liu Bei's targeted attack did not cause much social impact.

The private minted currency in the Liangzhou area was cut off less than a year after the fine salt trade was launched, and it was still the kind that was completely cut off and could never be seen again. What happened was repeated everywhere.

Over the years, as Liu Bei's control over the area west of Luoyang has increased, especially after the implementation of the slavery ban, private coinage in the area west of Luoyang has basically disappeared, and the tools and professional technical personnel needed for coinage have been almost all used by Liu Bei. Take it back for your own use.

With the growth of Liu Bei's power and the gradual maturity of the currency supervision department, the Liangzhou coin is like a newcomer in the officialdom supported by someone from above, and has started a smooth journey.

At the beginning, Liangzhou cast five baht coins were only used in Liangzhou, but with the continuous sale of Liangzhou fine salt, Liangzhou coins began to move to Sansuke and Sanhe. With the expansion of salt interest groups, The scope and value of Liangzhou money are increasingly recognized.

After Liu Bei took office as the general, Liangzhou money had a new market name—general money.

(End of this chapter)