But after checking a lot of information, I confirmed without a doubt that the gold in Qin and Han Dynasties was gold!
According to historical records: Qin conquered the world, and the currency was second-class. Gold was named Yiyi and was listed on the currency, so gold currency was circulated throughout the country. Since the founding of the Celestial Dynasty, a Qin Dynasty gold cake was unearthed in Nianliu Village, Xingping, Shaanxi, with a gold content of
99%, weight 260 grams, with the word "Yin" engraved on the bottom; later, 8 Qin and Han gold cakes were unearthed from the Wujiatun cellar in Lintong, Shaanxi Province, engraved with the three characters "Yi Liangban". Obviously, the word "Yi" here is the same as "Yin".
In the Qin Dynasty, "gold is named after Yi". Yi and Liang are both monetary measurement units of the Qin Dynasty. The unearthed gold cakes of the Qin State in Shaanxi indicate that gold currency is not only popular in Chu State, but also in other regions.
circulation.
In the Qin Dynasty, one yi was about 24 taels.
Of course, I don’t know much about the Qin Dynasty, so I won’t go into details.
Back to the Western Han Dynasty.
In the Han Dynasty, gold appeared in people's sight in units of kilograms.
According to the unearthed gold cakes of the Han Dynasty, there is basically no difference in size, weight and gold content from the gold cakes of the Qin Dynasty. For example, in 1974, 6 gold cakes of the Western Han Dynasty were discovered at the North Shiqiao site of Yuhuazhai, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province,,,,,,,,
It is roughly around 250 grams. Another example is that four Western Han gold cakes, weighing 250 grams, were unearthed at the Gucheng Village site in Xingyang, Henan in 1971. Others include Dongtaibao in Taiyuan, Shanxi, Yangjiadashan in Changsha, Hunan, and wooden coffin tombs of the Western Han Dynasty in Hepu, Guangxi.
The weight of the gold cakes unearthed from Xigandi and Mancheng Jiazhuang in Yixian County, Hebei Province, and Zhangdian Huaershan County, Xinjin County, Liaoning Province is also about 250 grams. This is consistent with the calculation unit of gold currency in the Han Dynasty.
.
Moreover, gold cakes of the Han Dynasty have been unearthed all over the country. According to preliminary statistics from archaeological unearthed data published in newspapers and periodicals since the last century, there are 26 reports of the unearthed gold coins of the Han Dynasty, covering 14 provinces and cities. The specific location is: Shaanxi Province
: Jimo. The above unearthed information shows that the scope of gold currency circulation in the Han Dynasty went far beyond the single area during the Warring States Period and spread throughout the country.
As a legal tender, the rulers of the Han Dynasty recognized and recognized the status of gold.
But it is different from the silver of later generations.
In the Han Dynasty, gold was a monetary unit of measurement rather than a monetary unit of measurement.
Therefore, the specific situation needs to be analyzed in detail.
Not all recorded gold is really a pound of gold.
In fact, our ancestors love to play word games and prefer to use some rough estimates to fool people.
For example, King Xiao of Liang "had a bottle worth a thousand gold"; Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "a horse ornament worth a hundred gold"; Lu Jia had a "sword worth a hundred gold", etc. The bottles, horse ornaments and swords here are all the enjoyment of life of the feudal ruling class.
To measure the price of these luxury goods that have been carefully crafted and spared no expense, it is impossible to have a precise value scale. The so-called "thousand gold" and "hundred gold" are not exactly one thousand catties and one hundred catties.
Gold. Others such as "a property of a thousand gold" and "a home of ten thousand gold" are also an uncertain value scale. The so-called "a hundred gold is the property of ten families" does not mean that it is more than or less than ten
Jin is not the "middle man"'s family, it is just an approximate number. In addition, if "Tang dies, the family property is worth less than 500 gold"; Yang Xiong's family property is "less than 10 gold"; Yin Qi dies, "the family's value is less than 50 gold"
The "but" and "dissatisfaction" here are not precise figures, and the value scale shown is only an approximation. It can be seen that the uncertain value scale of gold currency determines the inaccuracy of price comparison with other items.
From the unearthed Han bamboo slips, we can see that the price comparison between copper coins and other items has a very clear value scale, for example, "The Marquis was in Guangchangli, and the official was on the 30th year of Li Zhong: two small slaves, worth thirty thousand; a big one
One maid, twenty thousand; five horses, twenty thousand; two oxen, six thousand; two bullock carts, four thousand; one chariot, worth ten thousand; one area of house, worth ten thousand; five hectares of fields, worth fifty thousand; a total of ten
Fifty thousand". However, after looking through the Han Dynasty slips, I couldn't find a precise price comparison between gold and other items. This is by no means accidental. The uncertain value scale of gold currency must be used at the same time as copper coins with clear value scales.
replaced.
So what should you do if you must exchange gold for copper coins? Is there an official designated exchange ratio? Or a generally recognized exchange ratio?
The answer is yes.
In the past, many people who studied the history of the Western Han Dynasty believed that one pound in the Han Dynasty was equal to 10,000 yuan.
This is because records in historical records and Han books support this view to some extent.
For example, I will not quote the records in Feng Tang's biography, food and goods records, and standard books one by one. Interested students can check it out by themselves.
But recently, archaeological discoveries and unearthed cultural relics, especially the writings and legal provisions of Han Dynasty ministers, have overturned the conclusion that one gold = ten thousand coins in the Han Dynasty.
"Zhangjiashan Han Bamboo Slips: Book of Arithmetic" (No. 46) records that "1 catty of gold = 5040 coins", (59) in Volume 6 of "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" "Jin Shu" records that "1 catty of gold = 6250
"Money", in the same book, Volume 7 "Insufficiency of Surplus", it is recorded that "1 catty of gold = 9800 qian".
The reason why there is such a big error.
This is because the economic policy of the Han Dynasty had a system called Pingjia.
We will discuss this issue later. For now, we only need to know that the Pinjia system can determine prices. That is enough.
Finally, when I checked the information, I found that during the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, the total rewards given to ministers and generals were 890,000 gold, of which Wei Qing and Huo Qubing accounted for the majority, 200,000 for Wei Qing and 500,000 for Huo Qubing.
Many people are confused, how could there be so much gold in the Han Dynasty?
It's actually very simple, there is indeed so much gold.
Since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, our ancestors have begun to cast bronze. Bronze requires copper to be cast, and copper mines are inevitably accompanied by large amounts of gold mines.
In particular, after the Warring States Period, many large-scale copper and gold mines were mined one after another.
For example, King Wu Liu Bi had two large copper mountains in Yuzhang County, which were completely mined in the open pit.
And I seriously suspect that Liu Bi’s two large copper mountains are probably part of the ore veins of the Dexing Copper Mine.
The Dexing Copper Mine still has reserves of more than one billion tons, and the amount of gold and other precious metals associated with it is not clear.
So the question is, the gold from the Western Han Dynasty disappeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Where did it go?
The answer is two.
One is the burials. Needless to say, the luxury of the Han mausoleums and the richness of the burial objects, especially the wealth buried in Liu Che's Maoling Mausoleum, is simply crazy.
Historically, the Red Eyebrow Army dug once and it lasted three days but was not finished.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo dug once, but still didn't finish...
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the rebels also dug it once, ahem.
What's funny is that Yuan Mo can still be poached once.
So it’s true that Xiaozhu deserved to be robbed over and over again, and it was organized and disciplined large-scale plundering.
Another reason for the disappearance of gold is the introduction and rise of Buddhism.
According to current historical data, Buddhism, which was introduced to China during the Eastern Han Dynasty, initially liked to use gold to gild Buddha statues and also used gold to write gold inscriptions.
Let me tell you another news. Not long ago, some tomb robbers in Changsha tried to blow up the tomb of the King of Changsha to dig out a meal of gold that was said to be buried in the tomb. As a result, the explosion lasted for a long time but failed to blow up the yellow intestines in the king's tomb.
The question is...
We’ll talk about the Pinjia system when we have time next time, and I still don’t fully understand how it operates and how it is coordinated. Let me check the information carefully and look for evidence and cases.
