Chapter 283 Thanks, Sun Quan’s failed currency war
Sun Quan was also an expert in making money by casting five baht coins, even earlier than his brother-in-law Liu Bei. However, only in the second time did he successfully conquer the Shu Kingdom. The other times ended in failure and suffered the consequences.
After all, before Sun Quan started to mint coins in the seventh year of Jian'an, the five-baht coins circulating in Soochow market were privately minted by the Soochow family. Although he was helpless, Sun Quan had no choice but to endure it silently, just because Soochow
We have to rely on these Jiangdong aristocratic families to support us, and we cannot do without them.
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Jiangnan was still a barbarian land. At that time, the Red Eyebrow Army brought chaos to the world. In order to avoid the war, the aristocratic families at that time led their tribesmen and refugees across the river to escape, and then came to the land of Jiangnan. These aristocratic families in the Western Han Dynasty became
The first batch of people to develop Jiangnan.
The ancestors of the Lu surname in Yangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River began with Lu Fa, a doctor of the Qi State in the Spring and Autumn Period. Later, the descendants of the surname Lu crossed south during the war in the Western Han Dynasty and began to live in the south of the Yangtze River. And Lu Xun, who was well-known to later generations because of the fire that burned Liu Bei's 800-mile company camp, is this
The descendants of Zhi Lu.
Even the descendants of the Lu family served as prime ministers many times in the later Tang Dynasty. During the Three Kingdoms era, the Lu family, represented by Lu Xun, was one of the most powerful families in the south of the Yangtze River.
These wealthy families all had private armed forces at the time, and the control of the army was always in the hands of the family. After the father died, the son succeeded, and the brother succeeded the brother. The strength of these wealthy families was very strong at the time, so strong that even Sun Wuzhi
Even Lord Sun Quan is afraid of three points.
Contrary to what many people think, in the war-torn times like the Three Kingdoms, everything had to be based on strength. These wealthy families were not controlled by Sun Quan at all because of their strength.
After Lu Xun defeated Liu Bei in the Battle of Yiling, Sun Quan ordered Lu Xun to pursue the victory and march into the Shu Han Dynasty. However, Lu Xun flatly refused Sun Quan's order. For a wealthy family like Lu Xun, he only needed to hold on to Jiangnan and let his people live and work in peace and contentment. As for the pursuit of the Central Plains,
, just listen.
For these powerful wealthy families, from Sun Jian to Sun Ce to Sun Quan, no one can do anything, because their strength does not allow it.
The Sun family really had no choice but to deal with the Shanyue people, the local indigenous people in the south of the Yangtze River, and expand their strength. In the end, just like the fate of other indigenous people in history, the Shanyue people were almost wiped out by the Sun family.
But even if the indigenous people were eliminated, the economy under Sun Wu was still supported by wealthy families. Even the currency circulating in Sun Wu was not Sun Quan's official currency, but the privately minted five-baht coin cast by wealthy families.
In addition to the five-baht coins privately minted by wealthy families, Sun Quan, the official representative of the Wu Kingdom, also minted official currencies. However, these official currencies were not used to circulate in Jiangnan, but to fight currency wars with Cao Wei and Shu Han.
Sun Wu minted currency for the first time in the seventh year of Jian'an, which was the eve of the Chibi War.
Before the war, Zhou Yu suggested to Sun Quan: "My lord, our copper mines in Jiangdong are the richest in the world. With copper mines, we can make copper coins. The copper coins that Wu can make are many times that of Cao Cao. Why should we, Sun Wu, be afraid of Cao Cao? We can
Defeat Cao Wei's monetary system. If they don't have money, it depends on what they use to fight. Cao Cao will defeat himself without attacking."
Sun Quan felt that Zhou Yu's suggestion was quite reasonable.
So Sun Quan went all out to make money. The batch of money that Sun Quan made was called "Daquan Fifty". The Daquan Fifty weighed about 4 grams, which was actually not much different from the standard five-baht coin that weighed 3 grams and circulated on the market. In other words, this
The value of the two kinds of money is almost the same. In ancient times, the value of money was calculated by weight. The heavier it was, the more valuable it was. But Sun Quan stipulated that one Daquan fifty should be spent as fifty five baht coins, which means that one piece of mine
I want to buy you something worth fifty yuan, which is a naked robbery.
But what Sun Quan wants to rob is not the wealthy families in Jiangnan, nor the local people, nor even the indigenous Shanyue people. What Sun Quan wants to rob is his opponent Cao Cao. The imagination is beautiful, but the reality is very skinny.
Sun Quan asked his soldiers to disguise themselves as merchants and transport Daquan Fifty to Cao Cao's territory to buy grain. One dollar was used as fifty yuan to buy. But the problem is that the people of Cao Wei are not fools. If you say Daquan Fifty is worth fifty pieces and five baht, it is worth it.
Ah, you are not the Lord of the North, why should I listen to you?
As a result, Daquan Fifty was still used as a five-baht piece on Cao Wei's territory. However, after Cao Wei's people got Daquan Fifty, they often took this kind of money to Sun Wu's territory to pawn 50 yuan.
Flowers, one piece is worth 50 yuan. This is what you, Sun Quan, have stipulated yourself.
In the end, Sun Quan had no choice but to issue an order to stop minting Daquan fifty coins. All Daquan fifty coins received would be turned over and recast, and they would be treated the same as fake money.
Some people may question that as long as Sun Quan bans Wu's supplies from leaving the country, wouldn't he be able to prevent the loss of Wu's wealth? It's true, Sun Quan thought so too, but he couldn't do this because if he banned supplies from leaving the country, it would harm Sun Quan.
The trade between Wu and the north was mainly in the hands of wealthy families. These wealthy families absolutely could not let Sun Quan do such things. Sun Quan had no way to deal with these wealthy families. After all, he had the strength to allow it.
In the first attack of the currency war, Sun Wu was completely defeated. It can be said that he shot himself in the foot. It was completely self-inflicted. Just like his name, Sun Shiwan, he thought beautifully, but every time
The attacks were all in vain.
Sun Wu minted coins for the second time in the 24th year of Jian'an. This was after the Battle of Wu and Shu. This currency war was launched against the Shu Han. At this time, Lu Meng took the lead and eliminated Guan Yu who was entrenched in Jingzhou.
Sun Quan then sent Lu Meng 100,000,000,000 and 150 baht, and asked him to rob him in Shu. To put it mildly, he used the money minted by his brother-in-law's second brother Guan Yu to "buy things" in Shu.
Liu Bei's army, which had just entered Shu, was hungry and in rags. Through this robbery method of making large amounts of money, within a few months, the troops and horses were strong. You can imagine what a tragic robbery scene it was at that time.
Later, in order to attack Hanzhong, Liu Bei minted another batch of 100-dollar coins. The quality of this batch was even worse, and the weight was reduced to 8 grams, but it was still used as 100 five-baht coins. There was another big robbery, and even
After Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang also minted Taiping Baiqian (the new version is regarded as a hundred coins) in order to march out of Qishan to attack Wei. This kind of money weighed 0.1 to 1 gram, which was worse than Dong Zhuo's wordless coins.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Many people who grew up watching the Romance of the Three Kingdoms would never believe that Liu Bei, the benevolent and righteous saint, and Zhuge Military Advisor, a moral model, would do such a thing, but history belongs to history, and TV series belong to
TV dramas cannot be confused with each other.
Talking back to Lu Meng, at that time, the weight of the straight hundred and five baht in Shu had been reduced to 6~8 grams, and the straight hundred and five baht sent by Sun Quan was cast according to the 10-gram specification in the early years of the Shu Han Dynasty, although it did not matter whether it was 8 grams or 10 grams.
Robbery, but the lesser of two evils, the less likely it is to be robbed, the people of Shu voted with their feet and voted for Sun Quan's one hundred and five baht. This batch of copper coins soon became the main currency in Shu.
One hundred million five-baht coins can be exchanged for ten billion five-baht coins. You must know that looking at the Eastern and Western Han Dynasties, a total of only 50 billion five-baht coins were minted. Sun Quan's 100 million five-baht coins completely destroyed the Shu Han.
In the end, Zhuge Liang could only order the people not to use copper coins as a medium of exchange, directly driving the Shu Han back to the era of barter.
In the end, the Shu Han lost almost all their wealth after losing Jingzhou. In the second currency war, Sun Wu won completely, but in the third time, Sun Quan's method of "buying" things from Shu was just like the first time.
It's my own fault. After all, the same method will become ineffective if used too often.
Wang Shen and others who were waiting in the store got the gold nuggets divided into five small bags and said to everyone: "Everyone, today we can exchange the Sichuan brocade for these gold nuggets instead of the Dangbai people who harmed the people of the Three Kingdoms.
big money,
But thanks to the noble man, we should give part of it to the noble man as a token of gratitude. Do you think so or not?"
Chen Guangqin thought for a while and said: "Since the steward has packed five bags for us, I will give one bag to the nobles as a thank you."
Wang Shen and others all nodded in agreement and said: "Guang Qin's suggestion is good, let's just divide it like this." Only Guo Xiu remained silent, but at this moment his opinion no longer mattered.
Huang Gou'er rubbed his hands and said with a smile: "Well, how can this be so embarrassing? It's just a simple effort."