Li Tai stood in front of the residence in the south of the city, looking at the carriage that was driving away, with mixed emotions.
The onlooker he met in the city before to solicit business was named Liu Gong. His service was really warm and thoughtful. He not only prepared all the groceries they needed to buy at once, but also took the initiative to deliver the goods to their door, and agreed to make the purchases on time throughout the month.
Deliver it to them so that they don’t have to worry about going to and from the market.
But such warm and thoughtful service comes at a high price. This person sent a month's rations and fresh vegetables for the family, while Li Tai and the others spent a hundred bolts of silk and a pound of gold.
Li Tai has no way of judging whether this price is expensive or cheap, because there is no standard price scale in Guanzhong!
In addition to door-to-door delivery, this person also gave Li Tai an economics lesson in Guanzhong.
Since the Wuhu rebellion in China, the world has been divided for hundreds of years. As long as the world has been in chaos, Guanzhong has been in chaos. Frequent regime changes have not only greatly harmed people's livelihood, but also caused the entire Guanzhong monetary system to collapse several times.
It's almost exhausted.
Liu Gong told Li Tai that when Guanzhong was still making money, there were all kinds of coins such as Han five baht, Wei five baht, Hou Zhao Feng Huo Qian, Taihe five baht, Yongping five baht and so on. In addition to official minting,
In addition to these coins, there are also a large number of privately minted local coins in various states and territories.
Most of these coins are in poor quality and have seriously lost weight. Even if good money is issued for a while, they will often be melted and recast by profiteers into bad money that has lost weight.
Although human life is cheap in troubled times, no one is a fool and is willing to exchange the fruits of his labor for a pile of bad money. So gradually, currency such as copper coins withdrew from the trading market, and everyone would rather tear the cloth into strips.
When trading, you don't want to exchange bad money that you can't spend at all.
A few years ago, the Western Wei Dynasty court minted a batch of new coins, but the quality was also very poor. It was mainly used to pirate the Yong'an Five Baht of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and go to Hedong, Hebei and other places to sweep up goods and reward heroes by the way. The market share was very small.
What Yuwentai rewarded Gao Zhongmi was mainly pirated five baht minted a few years ago. Probably because the Eastern Wei Dynasty was too tight on guard and could not spend it, he rewarded half a million baht in one go.
Li Tai also took a look at the money. It was really a good thing. If it was dropped on the water for more than a dozen times, it would float. It could basically be said to be useless money.
The purchasing power of currency plummeted, which was a problem faced by the Eastern Wei, Western Wei, and even the previous Northern Wei.
In recent decades, the Taihe Five Baht with the highest purchasing power has been minted by Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty after he moved the capital to Luoyang. It once reached the level of 200 yuan per piece of silk, but the Taihe Five Baht was only circulated in Luoyang. In other places
Convenience theft is serious, and private money is still used in various places.
Of course, money was also used in the Western Wei Dynasty, but it was mainly due to official forced purchases, and inflation was very serious. Compared with the Taihe period, the premium was more than ten or even dozens of times, and the price of money was even much lower than the price of the same amount of copper.
This is really a wonderful sight. The purpose of minting money is to make money, but as a result, it uses artificial metallurgy. In the end, the money is not as valuable as the original copper material. This shows how bad the monetary policy of the Northern Dynasties has been, and the people have come to see it.
The degree to which money changes color.
Yuwen Taitong rewarded a total of 500,000 yuan, and spent more than 20,000 yuan in the account. Li Tai found out when he looked through the accounting books that the money spent was not used to buy things, but to make offerings to the Buddha. This shows that Buddhism has finally awakened.
Gao, they will accept all the bad money that no one wants.
That Liu Gong stated that he could also collect money, but it could only be used to buy and sell cattle, horses, sheep and other livestock and fodder.
He did not hide the way he sold the money, which was to transport it to the states in northern Shaanxi, where there were many urban residents and there were almost no farming and weaving products. The price of grain and silk was extremely expensive, and the urban residents could only live with
Money is traded, so various livestock products can only be sold for money.
Li Tai didn't know the price of goods in the northern states, but he couldn't accept the price offered by Liu Gong. A foal cost more than 30,000 yuan, and the price of sheep was lower, but still cost several thousand yuan.
More than 400,000 yuan sounds like a lot, but it is only a few baskets. Li Tai would rather leave it at home than be an obvious victim. If the money cannot be spent, the only money they can use for their little family is gold and silk.
Already.
Although gold is not a currency in Guanzhong, there are many merchants in Hexi who use gold and silver coins for transactions. As long as the business is large enough, there is no need to worry about not being able to spend it.
During the conversation, Li Tai also asked about the details of Liu Gong. His family was a wealthy man in Nanbaishui County on the west bank of Luoshui River. His family owned hundreds of hectares of fertile land. Most of the goods brought to his residence for trading were produced by his family.
Li Tai was even more excited when he heard it.
"Living in Huazhou is not easy. Sure enough, farming is the future!"
Li Tai sighed in his heart, turned around and returned to his residence. He saw Gao Bailing walking towards him in the front hall: "Thirteenth Lang, all the goods have been put into the warehouse. But this is really not a long-term solution. So what about the business Liu Gong mentioned?
Think about it again?”
After hearing this, Li Tai shook his head and said: "I have my own plans for these soldiers, and I will never sell them!"
Liu Gong came into the house before and saw a lot of people standing in the house, so he proposed to buy some and pay with rice, which not only reduced the pressure to support the family, but also increased the income.
But Li Tai refused directly, saying that whether he had double standards or pretended to be aloof, he could accept gifts of soldiers from others, but he did not want to make a living by trafficking in people.
Putting aside the issue of respecting human rights, Liu Gong was willing to pay a considerable price to buy soldiers. It can be seen that these manpower are also very profitable, and there is still a shortage of labor in Guanzhong Township.
The Western Wei Dynasty was in a tight financial situation and did not have much wealth to reward meritorious servicemen, so bestowing soldiers on them was always an important part. Therefore, He Basheng, Shuo Hui and other generals each had a large number of soldiers, so they easily
I don’t feel bad if I give dozens of them to Li Tai.
But at any time, people are the most precious social resources.
Those generals are away at war and have no time to manage their business carefully, so they feel that their soldiers are bloated and a burden. But when the foreign wars have stopped for a while and they have the energy to expand their property and use their manpower, they may not be so generous.
Why was Gao Huan able to achieve hegemony in Hebei? It was because he took in the townspeople of the six towns who were regarded as a burden by the Erzhu family and gave them a huge headache. The military strength of the Eastern Wei Dynasty always surpassed that of the Western Wei Dynasty. It was also precisely because a large number of townspeople from the six towns stayed in
In Hebei.
"Living in the city for a long time with nothing to do is indeed not a good plan for businessmen. Since the Western Dynasty has granted farmland, I plan to lead a group of soldiers out of the city tomorrow morning and eat in the countryside. It is already the beginning of summer in April, and the farming season has come to an end. I missed it.
During this farming season, it will be even more difficult to make a living in the coming months!"
At dinner, Li Tai told Gao Zhongmi about his inner plan.
"Apan, since you have such a long-term plan, I won't stop you. Fortunately, you are not far away from home. If you have any difficulties, you can just come back to your residence and complain."
Although Gao Zhongmi didn't care about family affairs, he saw that he spent so much money on one purchase. He no longer confidently said that he would have no worries about his livelihood for a year. After saying this, he just held the wine glass and drank silently alone.
Although the Western Wei Dynasty officially banned alcohol and did not sell distilled yeast to the public, the most they could control was in the city market.
If you don't pursue quality and taste, the technical threshold for moonshine water is not high. The wine Gao Zhongmi is drinking is exactly what Liu Gong gave as a gift in this transaction.
Since Gao Zhongmi had no objection, the matter was settled.
In the early morning, after breakfast, Li Tai gathered his troops again and selected 80 strong men and 20 women as the first group of followers to accompany him to the manor outside the city. These people were either loyal and reliable, or worked hard.
Rich in skills, capable of being put into production immediately.
"Twenty knives, thirty spears and staffs, ten bows, tents, felts, fire drills, sharpening stones and other miscellaneous items have been prepared and can be packed when the cart arrives. There are also other items needed for the night stay.
Make a detailed list and go to the countryside to buy it. Thirteenth Lang will definitely collect it."
Gao Bailing checked his luggage over and over again, and Li Tai looked at the equipment and felt that going out of the city this time was like robbing a house instead of going to the countryside to farm. However, considering the fierce folk customs in Guanzhong, bringing these weapons can be regarded as being prepared.
Gao Zhongmi was in a low and sensitive mood, and was sad to see farewell. Although he got up very early, he did not go to the front hall. He only asked Li Tai to send someone to report as soon as possible after he arrived in the country.
I had too much luggage and not enough cars at home, so I had to rent it from the Governor's Office in the south of the city. The distance was calculated by day and the distance was calculated by mile. The price was clearly marked, so I didn't deceive anyone. However, they also did not accept copper coins and paid in cloth.
It can be seen that the Western Wei Dynasty was really careless and refused to accept broken money.
In addition, the Dudu Mansion also provides another service, which is gold and silver exchange.
Precious metals are not circulated in Guanzhong. If Li Tai wants to buy materials and tools in the countryside, he must prepare cloth.
Gao Zhongmi provided five kilograms of gold as a farming fund. Li Tai exchanged three kilograms at the Dudu Mansion, but only got fifty bolts of silk, one hundred and twenty bolts of cloth and twenty kilograms of cotton. Is the price high or low?
Naturally, there is no way to measure it, but considering the poverty of the Western Wei Dynasty, it is obvious that it will not benefit the people.
In the morning, the carriages rented by the governor's office were distributed. They were not standard official carriages, but civilian men and carriage equipment requisitioned into the army. When Li Tai saw this scene, he couldn't help but sigh that the government is always good at all times, and this has no basis.
Trading is comfortable.
After loading the truck, the group headed out of the city, accompanied by a Wuxiang County official who was responsible for contacting the township and measuring the number of acres of land granted.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
There are very few records about money and prices in the Western Wei Dynasty. One of them is that "it costs ten thousand guan to cook Yu Xiangze." During the Taihe period of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Xiaowen rewarded the imperial doctor who treated him with 10,000 guan. Due to insufficient treasury,
Use groceries instead: two thousand pieces of silk, one hundred pieces of sundries; two thousand hu of grain; ten slaves; ten horses;
Used in Luoyang area. In the Western Wei Dynasty, just one imperial spice cost tens of thousands of dollars. Therefore, the monetary policy during the Western Wei Dynasty was basically in a state of collapse. It was not until the Hexi Corridor was reopened and Shannan and Bashu were returned to the Western Wei Dynasty that the commodity economy developed.
During the Northern Zhou Dynasty, large sums of five and ten coins were minted, which should be mainly used for Silk Road trade in exchange for gold and silver coins in the Hexi Corridor. There are many records of Yuwen Yong in the Northern Zhou Dynasty rewarding heroes with gold and silver coins, which shows that Silk Road trade was very effective.
.I studied finance, and paid more attention to currency and commerce. It can be regarded as a side description of people's livelihood at that time, and there will be some related plots in the follow-up...