My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 398: Let's do it
As soon as Liu Rong spoke, the entire Chang'an court, inside and outside, was undoubtedly overwhelmed by the work pressure at the end of the year.

But no matter how busy or tired I am, I have not missed any of the things that need to be produced - everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The first thing to be completed was the initial results of Liu Rong's currency reform: the Wuzhu coin was freshly produced.

Compared with the lead-white Three Zhu of Emperor Gaozu, the yellow and white Eight Zhu of Empress Lü, and the uneven and generally poor quality Four Zhu of Emperor Taizong, the new Five Zhu that Liu Rong planned to promote completely subverted the Han Dynasty's traditional coinage concept.

——In the past, whether it was the central government of the Han Dynasty, local tyrants, officials, or even individual households, the principle they adhered to when minting coins was without exception: how to use less copper to mint more money.

Some people tried to make the coins smaller and thinner, such as the three-zhu coin of Emperor Taizu Gao.
Some people tried to add impurities to reduce the copper content of coins, such as the three-zhu coins of Emperor Taizu Gao.
There are even people who are so cruel as to use state power to directly attach a face value that is seriously inconsistent with the facts to inferior money that is obviously not heavy enough, not colorful enough, and not of good quality!
That’s right, it is still the Sanzhu Coin that was introduced by Emperor Taizu Gaohuang Liu Bang, which led to the collapse of the entire Han Dynasty’s economy.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Sanzhujiaqian, or the "Han Banliang", is the first precious metal coin in the history of human civilization that undermined the central government's credibility and even collapsed the economic order.

In the following two thousand years, there have been many "coins" that have killed people without compensation.

For example, the white deerskin coin of Emperor Wu of Han, a piece of deerskin was worth a thousand gold coins;
For example, the "Daquan Wu Shi" and even the "Daoping Wu Qian" made by Wang Mang weighed twelve zhu respectively, which is half a liang. However, the face value of the former was equal to fifty five-zhu coins, while the face value of the latter was as high as five thousand five-zhu coins!
Later, the northern barbarians moved southward, and the land of China sank. The wealth of the Chinese land was constantly plundered and transported to the grasslands.

In order to save copper and also to cheat the Chinese nation, the coins during the Northern and Southern Dynasties became smaller and smaller, but the face value became larger and larger.

Later, the copper coins, whose shapes and sizes were repeatedly reduced, were vividly described by the people as "goose-eye money" and "chicken-eye money".

And the face value is extremely large - a hundred is worth a thousand.

A few hundred years later, the first paper currency in human history appeared: Jiaozi in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Huizi and Guanzi in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Later, during the period when the Mongols ruled the Central Plains, paper money was circulated most of the time.

How to say~
The paper money of the feudal era, without a standard anchor to back up the value of the currency, is itself a trap of overly advanced civilization;
In addition, feudal emperors have never had any moral integrity, and officials in the feudal era rarely had a clear financial awareness.

Therefore, paper money in the feudal era often could not escape unlimited and excessive issuance, resulting in the currency completely depreciating and becoming waste paper.

Compared with these - compared with the paper currency systems that later collapsed due to excessive issuance, the three-zhu coins of Emperor Taizu of Han, Liu Bang, did not seem to have such a bad impact.

But in fact, the three-zhu coin with a face value of half a liang set an extremely bad precedent for the entire Chinese civilization.

——The face value of a currency may not be equal to its weight!

With this precedent and the three-zhu lead pod coin with a face value of "half a liang of copper", later generations naturally had their minds opened up and began to draw inferences from it.

Another thing is the Sanzhu coins minted by Liu Bang, which are theoretically undoubtedly precious metal coins.

Unlike paper money, which has no value in itself and is backed purely by official credit, precious metal coins should have sufficient value in themselves.

That is to say: even if a half-liang coin is no longer a coin but a pool of melted copper, the copper contained in this pool of melted copper should be worth one and a half liang coin.

However, Liu Bang's Sanzhu coins destroyed this most basic objective fact, making precious metal coins "no longer precious" or even "no longer metal."

To put it more bluntly: when the credit of paper currency collapses, people can still use precious metals.

Even in the future, when a country's currency credit collapses, ordinary people will still avoid property risks by purchasing precious metals: gold.

But Liu Bang's three-zhu coins not only hit the credit of currency, but also went straight to the root and hit the value of precious metals!
Before that, silver, gold, brass, etc. were all precious metals generally recognized by the Chinese nation;

Then you, Liu Bang, opened your eyes, held a coin-like lead without blushing or beating your heart, and said it was a 'copper coin'?
Okay, you are the emperor, we can't compete with you.

You said that the "fake money" that emits a lead-white glow is a copper coin, so just treat it as a copper coin.

Then can't I just not use copper coins?
I no longer use or believe in any precious metals, including gold, silver, and copper.

When I go shopping, I barter directly - eggs for vegetables, grain for salt and tea, ramie for soy sauce and vinegar!
What can you do to me?

You can't make another big lead block in the shape of a cabbage, and then again call a horse a zebra and force me to eat the lead block as if it were cabbage, right?
You can't make rice or cloth out of lead and use it to bully us poor old farmers, right?
This is why Liu Bang's Sanzhu coins caused such serious negative impact and even shook the foundation of the Han Dynasty's rule.

——Calling a deer a horse is always a sign of the collapse of a dynasty.

Official credit and credibility have always been very extreme things.

When you trust him, no matter what he does, you will say: We ordinary people may not understand it, but it is definitely for the good of the country.

But once his credibility collapses and you no longer trust him, then no matter how well he does, you will say: Who are you just showing off for?

Who knows how dirty things are behind the scenes!
It's totally fooling the devil!

From this perspective, the Sanzhu coin invented by Emperor Taizu Liu Bang seems to be an absolutely bad idea.

The economy collapsed, the currency credit collapsed, the country's credibility collapsed, and precious metals were also damaged.

But as an emperor, Liu Rong had to look at the problem comprehensively.

——Apart from the facts…

amount……

Putting aside these superficial phenomena, does Liu Bang's Sanzhu coins really have no positive significance at all?

In the past, Liu Rong always firmly believed: No!
The Sanzhu Coin was a national joke created by Liu Bang, a country bumpkin who didn't understand economics, currency, or how to govern a country!

But after coming to this era, especially after learning the true situation of that year from the mouth of the late emperor - especially the background of the times, Liu Rong no longer thought so.

What was the situation of the Han family back then?
——The world’s population was only over 10 million, and most of them hid in the mountains and forests to avoid the wars and conflicts at the end of the Qin Dynasty.

The national finances were almost zero, and the treasury was so poor that only rats could escape. Liu Bang, the emperor, could not even get eight horses of the same color. Xiao He and Cao Shen, the prime ministers of the Han Dynasty, could only go to court in ox carts.

poverty!
The Han Dynasty established by Liu Bang, from top to bottom and from inside to outside, was simply poor.

In that context - a time when everyone from the emperor down across the country was "poor", there happened to be eight princes of different surnames in Guandong who needed Liu Bang to raise an army to conquer.

The princes of different surnames must be exterminated, and there can be no delay for a moment;
But once the fighting began, from the time the army set out until the rebellion was put down, what flowed out was golden gold.

When a cannon is fired, it's worth a fortune. That's all.

Therefore, it was not that Liu Bang did not understand economics, money, or how to govern a country, or did not understand what kind of bad consequences the three-zhu lead pod coins would bring to the Han Dynasty. Rather, the situation at the time forced Liu Bang to resort to this last resort, exchanging time for space - using a method that would destroy the future to temporarily survive the crisis.

This is like usury;
If you borrow, you will be crushed by the endless compounding interest in the future;
But if you don't lend it, you will starve to death right now.

It's like taking two poison pills. One will kill you instantly, and the other will kill you slowly. But you still have to take one...

As for the positive significance of the Sanzhu coin to the Han family and even to Chinese civilization, Liu Rong also discovered one.

——At that time, the coin-minting movement spread throughout the entire Chinese continent. Although all the coins minted were three-zhu lead coins, it was precisely that coin-minting movement in which everyone participated and was enthusiastic that unexpectedly unified the Chinese currency in a very short period of time and with very little investment.

Whether it was the shell coins issued by the princes of the Spring and Autumn Period, the knife coins and ant nose coins promoted by the heroes of the Warring States Period, or the Qin Banliang, all of them were melted down into Han coins without exception after that movement.

Although it is inferior money, it is also Chinese money.

It was precisely because Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Taizu of Han unified the currency twice that laid the foundation for the idea of ​​"currency unification" in the true sense for the entire Chinese nation.

After that, and even for the next two thousand years, there was no longer a situation where one place used coin A, another place used coin B, and another place used coin C.

Whether it was the eight-zhu coins minted by Empress Dowager Lü, the four-zhu coins minted by Emperor Taizong, the five-zhu coins and white deerskin coins minted by Emperor Wu of Han in history, or the paper money that killed people in later generations, they were all circulated and issued throughout the world without exception.

But that's all.

The historical contribution of Sanzhu coins is limited to the unique fact that it "followed the unification of currency by Qin Shihuang and emphasized the unification of currency again half a year after the Qin was minted."

As for the eight-zhu coins minted later by Empress Dowager Lu, generally speaking, they were basically tailor-made coins to wipe the ass of the three-zhu coins of Emperor Taizu Liu Bang.

——The Qin Ban Liang is too big and too heavy, while the Han Ban Liang is too small and too light;
Empress Lü's eight zhu was a perfect compromise.

As for the color, although it is much better than the Han Banliang which is lead-white all over, it is much inferior to the Qin Banliang which is golden all over, even shiny yellow.

The significance of the existence of the Eight-Zhu Coin is more like a natural result of its emergence in order to rebuild the Han Dynasty's monetary system, re-establish monetary credit, and rebuild the country's credibility.

——Everyone look!
——Eight baht coins!

——The quality is not as good as Qin Banliang, but it’s okay!
——It’s not as light as Hanbanliang, but it’s okay!

——The most important thing is that these are real copper coins!

——Instead of "fake copper coins" or even "fake money" like the Han Banliang!
Since it is a toilet paper worth three zhu coins, the problems with eight zhu coins are naturally not less serious.

weight!
It is only one-third lighter than Qin Banliang, but still very heavy!
Moreover, unlike the simple and majestic Qin Banliang and the small and light Han Banliang, the size of Empress Lu's Eight Zhu Coin is neither too big nor too small, which is really inconsistent and makes people feel extremely awkward.

There is a famous saying in later generations: The combat effectiveness of a fighter jet is directly proportional to its appearance!

In a sense, the same is true for currency, especially precious metal coins.

The better looking the money is, the more popular it is destined to be, the more widely it will circulate, and the higher its value.

Obviously, Empress Lü Bazhu was not satisfied with this.

Therefore, the most fundamental purpose of Emperor Taizong's minting of four-zhu coins was actually to end the currency market, which had been in a mess since Emperor Taizu Liu Bang minted three-zhu lead pod coins.

The result that Emperor Taizong hoped to achieve when he minted the four-zhu coin was to create a fixed coin for the Han family that was light, easy to carry, of good quality and good appearance, and could be used by future generations.

Unfortunately, by some strange coincidence, a man named Liu Bi, the King of Wu, emerged to monopolize the coin minting industry, and completely disrupted Emperor Taizong's plans.

The four-zhu coin, which should have been the first "decent" currency of the Han Dynasty and was used for a long time, has become another particularly dazzling piece of shit on the mountain of codes called "Han coins".

This time, when Liu Rong launched the Wuzhu coin, he was actually doing what Emperor Taizong wanted to do, planned to do, and tried to do, but ultimately failed to do.

Of course, with the lessons learned from Emperor Taizong’s failure, it was impossible for Liu Rong not to summarize and reflect.

——The most fundamental reason for the failure of Emperor Taizong's Four Zhu was that the right to mint coins was opened up, which prevented the national currency issuing agency from achieving full control over the right to issue currency.

The issuance of currency, which should have been monopolized by the state, was divided up by countless individuals or groups like King Liu Bi of Wu.

Naturally, it is easy for bad money to drive out good money.

So how to avoid it?

There are countless ways, and the most time-saving and labor-saving one is state monopoly.

——If there is only one currency issued by the official government within the country, there will be no distinction between bad money and good money.

Therefore, after Emperor Taizu Liu Bang opened up the right to mint coins, Empress Dowager Lu took it back to the central government, and Emperor Taizong opened it again, it was foreseeable that Liu Rong would once again, and most likely permanently, nationalize the right to mint coins.

The right to mint coins has been nationalized;
The new five-zhu coin has also been released.

What remains is how to make the Wuzhu coins circulate and become the only legal currency on the market.

Unlike paper money, which can be replaced by new money in equal amounts with old money, the replacement of precious metal coins is an extremely long process.

No one was willing to exchange several four-zhu coins in his hand for one five-zhu coin and thereby reduce his wealth.

Therefore, the only way is to let the market teach them how to behave.

When the Wuzhu coin became the only darling of the coin market and squeezed out the living space of other types of coins, such as the Sanzhu, Bazhu, Sizhu, and even the Qin Banliang, these old coins that could not be melted privately could only flow into the Shaofu and be melted into new Wuzhu coins by the official.

But before that, there is one thing that Liu Rong needs to solve.

Moreover, this matter cannot be left to any subordinate, but must be handled by Liu Rong personally.

——In those days, in order to save face for Emperor Taizu, Empress Dowager Lü issued a decree endorsing the Three-Zhu Coin at the same time as issuing the Eight-Zhu Coin.

If this decree that has existed for decades is not overturned, Liu Rong's progress in promoting the Wuzhu coin may be delayed for hundreds or thousands of years...

(End of this chapter)