Strictly speaking, a gold and silver standard monetary policy is not prone to inflation. If only gold and silver are used as currency, the amount of gold and silver that exists in the circulation process completely depends on the demand for money in the entire world.
the size of.
When social demand increases, the quantity of gold and silver increases due to increased demand, either through mining, casting or allocation from national inventories; when social demand decreases, the same amount of gold and silver requires the purchase of fewer commodities.
Using depreciated gold and silver to buy goods outweighs the gains and losses, so people will store gold and silver, and the quantity in circulation will decrease.
Anyway, gold and silver can be stored for a few years without any problems. Therefore, the purchasing power of gold and silver remains stable for a long time in most cases.
But it is a pity that China has never been a big country in producing gold and silver. Gold and silver were the main objects of wealth hoarding by the ancients. Therefore, inferior metals had to be used as currency, that is, copper coins.
Especially in the Han Dynasty, only merchants' wealth was mainly in copper coins. The wealth of most people was mainly in the form of physical objects such as land, rice or silk. The number of copper coins held was enough to ensure daily expenses. Therefore,
, when the types and quantities of goods change very little, the higher the currency circulation velocity, the higher the prices and the more serious the inflation.
This is the situation that Chang'an is facing now. When the people discovered that the copper coins in their hands began to depreciate, they frantically wanted to replace the copper coins in their hands with real objects, and those who got the copper coins had to quickly get rid of the copper coins again...
As a result, almost all the copper coins on the market were gathered together, and the goods, regardless of whether they were useful or not, were all taken home first!
The wooden signs were easy to use, so I distributed more of them without realizing it. When it came time to distribute supplies, Dong Zhuo ordered most of the food, grass and items to be transported to Xiwu. Dong Xiangguo was extremely cheerful when he gave up the jade seal last time.
, this time, after allocating some food and grass, they refused to allocate it a second time, and refused to do anything.
There was nothing Li Ru could do about this. Dong Zhuo became increasingly surly, and sometimes even Li Ru would be scolded, and then quickly turn around to appease him after the scolding, leaving Li Ru dumbfounded.
Another thing that Li Ru couldn't do anything about was that there might have been a shortage of goods in the Chang'an market in general, but it would definitely not be like now! However, everyone's nature came out at this moment, and they all saw the prices rising.
They put all the copper coins in their hands into the market without thinking at all, which at the same time reduced the supply of goods in the market...
It would have been okay if Li Ru had been in Chang'an from the beginning, and he might have been able to detect and control it in time. But after Li Ru arrived in Chang'an, under a vicious cycle, Chang'an's market had begun to collapse, and it soon began to spread to surrounding areas.
This heavy domino can no longer be lifted up.
The grain and grass in the original plan were transferred away by Dong Zhuo. Now the merchants and the people all over the city did not listen to the notices posted by Li Ru or the persuasion of the people sent out, and frantically devoted themselves to collecting all kinds of materials.
…
Grain costs 10,000 yuan per stone! The rice shop had to be opened under the government's orders, but every day the door panels were not even removed, only a small crack was opened, and the grain was sold for only two or three dan before it was closed...
A baked earthenware bowl costs 5,000 yuan!
Thirty thousand dollars for a bolt of second-grade burlap!
A big sheep costs 250,000 yuan!
An ordinary horse can cost up to one million yuan!
…
The opponents Li Ru faces now are not the coalition forces in Shandong, but his own people.
It is not that there is no way at all, but Li Ru has no burden at all in calculating his opponents. However, when it comes to attacking his own people, Li Ru is somewhat unable to do so.
Jia Xu picked up a piece of beef and said, "So, how much is this piece of meat worth now?"
Li Ru glanced at it angrily and said, "According to the current market price, the plate in front of you would cost about 8,000 yuan..."
"Eight thousand yuan? Then plus these drinks, can't it be said that it is a banquet of ten thousand yuan?" Jia Xu clicked his tongue.
Li Ru ignored Jia Xu's complaints and stared at the table, still hesitant in his mind.
On the table are several copper coins.
new.
Jia Xu pinched a piece of beef, threw it into his mouth, chewed it, and said vaguely: "What do you think about this... just do it..."
Li Ru raised his head, turned to Jia Xu, sighed and said, "It's just like drinking a dove..."
Jia Xu chuckled, put his finger in his mouth, licked it, and said, "How about you ask the Prime Minister to bring out the grain and grass from Xiwu?"
Li Ru shook his head and said: "Unless all the grain and grass in the dock are transferred out now, it will be a drop in the bucket and will not help. Moreover, in the current situation, the prime minister also needs to ensure that the supply of military grain is safe."
"Then it's over..." Jia Xu said nonchalantly, "Now that you have no way to win, you can't make calculations, and you can't be even, then why are you hesitating?"
Sang Hongyang, a great businessman of the Han Dynasty and a famous financial expert, creatively proposed three plans to stabilize prices and restore economic order. Through the implementation of these three policies, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty finally corrupted the finances of Emperor Wu to the extreme.
The mess was under control and remained so until that reckless man Wang Mang came to power...
The equal-transport policy means that tributes submitted by local governments to the central government will be converted into physical products produced locally at the local market price. After being paid to the state, the government will uniformly transport them to other regions that lack these products for sale. The central government can take advantage of product price differences between regions.
Can obtain high profits.
The sue-min policy is the property tax for future generations. In conjunction with the subsequent prosecution order, the public is encouraged to report on those who conceal their property. If the truth is found after investigation, the defendant will guard the border for a year, half of all property will be confiscated, and half will be rewarded to the whistleblower. Sue-min
After the order was launched, families above the middle class went bankrupt one after another, and the government plundered countless private wealth. At the same time, it also provided a large number of free military personnel, killing two birds with one stone.
After the implementation of the policies of equalizing losses and calculating losses, the imperial court had a large amount of materials in its hands, and Sang Hongyang began to implement the equalization policy to control inflation. The equalization policy was a specialized court agency located in Chang'an. It used the materials controlled by the state to increase prices in the market.
Sell at low prices and buy at low prices to stabilize prices.
But now, Li Ru can't do these three things. He has no choice but not enough conditions. After all, the only ones Li Ru can control now are Yongzhou and Liangzhou. Even if he issues government orders, they can only go to these two areas at most, and the generation in Liangzhou is mostly Qiang.
People, poor ones are smoother than their butts.
Jia Xu said: "Show me the new money..."
Li Ru sighed, stood up, picked up a few new coins on the table, walked to Jia Xu, put them on his desk, then walked to the front of the hall with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky.
Jia Xu picked up the copper coin, weighed it, and said: "Three baht?" Then without waiting for Li Ru's answer, he said to himself: "Let's just make it two baht. Anyway, this way...hehehehe
...If you want to do it, you might as well do more..."
Li Ru turned around quickly and stared at Jia Xu: "...you mean...to drag us into the water together?"
"What else?" Jia Xu threw the small copper coins on the table, his voice was a little dull, "Tsk tsk... this material... do you want to carry such a big mess alone?"
Li Ru frowned and thought for a while, then looked at Jia Xu, suddenly smiled and said, "Good!"
Jia Xu also laughed twice, and then said: "...who do you plan to let do this?"
The corners of Li Ru's mouth turned up slightly and he said, "What do you think about letting Taifu Yuan do it?"
"That's right!" Jia Xu laughed loudly, nodded repeatedly, then shook his head and said, "...but I'm afraid Taifu Yuan may not agree easily."
"I'm about to die. Either do it or die quickly. What's the choice?"
Jia Xu nodded and said: "Well, I don't care about this...I will go back in two days. Is there anything else you want to give me, senior brother?"
Li Ru thought for a while, picked up the wooden sign from the table, handed it to Jia Xu, and said: "You should take a detour to see someone...ask him what he can do about this situation, and help him by the way...
"
"Senior brother, what do you mean..."
"I don't mean anything, I just want to take a look."
"...Ah, yes! Then, I will take my leave first..." Jia Xu put the wooden sign in his sleeve and stood up to leave.
Li Ru glanced at the plate with a lot of beef left on the table, and said a little strangely: "...Hey, you have a bad appetite today? Do you want to take it away?"
Jia Xu walked slowly and staggeringly, waving his hands and saying: "I left it for you... your body... it should eat and drink. In this world... I have never seen anyone playing chess."
My hands are exhausted..."
Li Ru was stunned, then smiled, picked up the chopsticks on the table, and picked up a piece of beef...
There is a view that ancient China used copper because of the lack of gold and silver, but this argument is not true. According to existing research results, there was not a lot of gold and silver in ancient Chinese dynasties. The gold reserves in the Han Dynasty were even greater than those in ancient Rome.
There are more empires. So, what is the reason for the difference?
In ancient times, currency was a tool used by emperors and officials to maintain the operation of the dynasty and extract wealth from the people.
First, since the Qin and Han Dynasties, China has formed a unified national system with imperial power and autocratic power. "Under the whole world, everything is the king's land; on the shore of the land, is it the king's ministers." In ancient times, individual private property did not exist, and people did not form
Awareness of personal rights.
Second, Chinese emperors throughout the dynasties basically implemented the basic national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, basically maintaining a natural economic state with relatively little trade.
These two points were reflected in currency, resulting in the following result: although currency was also used for trade and debt repayment, it was mainly used to maintain the operation of the dynasty.
This chapter says there is a word limit... I'll put some of it in the next chapter...
