Chapter 280: Difficulty, Harvesting Peoples Pawn Hundreds of Money
After the steward in the shop had someone count the Shu brocades that Wang Shen and others received from the emperor, he said with a smile: "Do you want to settle in one hundred coins (directly five hundred baht) or in other currencies?" "
Wang Chen immediately frowned and said: "We don't want a hundred coins, we want gold. It's easier to hold it this way." Apparently he had also heard about Liu Bei's trick of offering a hundred coins.
At this time, the battle between various countries was not only a military competition, but also a competition for talents, and of course a duel of economic strength. In this aspect, Cao Cao undoubtedly had an absolute advantage. After Sun Quan attacked Jingzhou and captured Guan Yu, the Cao family and his son could basically sit back and relax.
When it comes to the economic war of the Three Kingdoms, we have to talk about Shuhan's Dangbai Daqian and Soochow's Daquan Wubaundi and Daquan Dangqian.
It is natural for Sun Quan to issue money indiscriminately, because among the three giants of the Three Kingdoms, the most treacherous and bottomless one is Sun Quan and Sun Zhongmou. There is no evidence in official history whether Cao Cao tried to touch Captain Jin and General Faqiu. Sun Quan's tomb robbery is proved by historical materials and physical objects.
Putting aside the treacherous Sun Quan, let’s take a look at Liu Bei and Liu Xuande, who are always known for their kindness. The perspective is from the journey of a piece of Shu brocade to see Liu Bei earn a hundred bucks: Why are the people in Shu the real sufferers?
Liu Bei minted a hundred large coins, which is clearly recorded in the history books: "When he first attacked Liu Zhang, Bei made an agreement with the soldiers: 'If the matter is determined, there will be nothing in the treasury without warning.' When Chengdu was captured, the soldiers all gave up fighting. , went to various treasures to compete for treasures. The military was insufficient, so I was very worried. Ba said: "Yi'er, but you should cast a hundred coins straight, pacify all the dealers, and order the officials to go to the official market." Prepare to follow it, and it will take a few months. , the treasury is full.”
Other records also confirm this statement: "The Yin Dynasty in the middle of Shu was prosperous and full of joy. The first lord prepared a banquet for the soldiers. He took the gold and silver from the city of Shu and distributed them to the soldiers. They gave them to Zhuge Liang. Fa Zheng flew to Guan Yu with five hundred catties of gold and one thousand catties of silver. Fifty million dollars, thousands of pieces of brocade."
From these official historical records, we can see that after Liu Bei captured Chengdu, he first launched a massive plunder, and then plundered all the wealth and silk that Liu Yan and Liu Zhang and his son had accumulated over decades to reward Zhuge Liang, Fazheng, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, etc. Zhao Yun firmly opposed this, and probably didn't even get a single copper plate.
After Liu Bei's lavish spending, the treasury in Shuzhong was empty, and Liu Ba came up with a bad idea: "cast it for a hundred dollars and buy supplies from the people!"
Liu Bei followed suit and purchased 100% of the goods at 1% of the cost. The people's wealth shrank by 99% overnight.
Speaking of this, many readers may not understand it. Here we have to look at the records about coins in "Historical Records" and "Hanshu": "Gold is named after overflowing, and it is listed as a coin; copper coins are like Zhou coins, and the text says 'half' Liang' is as important as its text. In the fifth year of Xiaowen's reign, because the money was more abundant and lighter, four more baht coins were minted, and the text was 'half a liang'. To eliminate theft, the money was minted, and the people were allowed to cast it."
The reason why Emperor Xiaowen lifted the ban on private coinage was because ancient times implemented a "copper standard" monetary policy. The currency value of copper coins was basically equal to the value of the copper used to make the coins. That is, the value of the copper blocks was marked. If there was no After marking the face value and weighing it on a scale, you can also exchange it for other goods.
Casting money is not a difficult technical task, as long as you have a crucible. As for the template, you can use the original big money to make the pottery model, and the cost is negligible. The way for pirates to make profits is to add lead and tin to the copper -
-As long as the proportion is appropriate, the proportion of bad coins is also 8.9. Even if you use Archimedes' method to detect it, you can't tell whether it is true or false.
The profit from casting bad coins that are "heavy as their paper" cannot reach one-to-one: even if all lead and tin are used, there is still a cost.
Liu Bei's casting costs a hundred dollars, and even if all pure copper is used, the profit will be more than ninety times the cost.
In order to more intuitively feel the impact of being a hundred dollars, let us take a piece of Shu brocade as an example.
Assuming that a piece of Shu brocade is worth one hundred coins (for the convenience of calculation, it is assumed to be one hundred coins, but in fact it is much higher than this) and is "as heavy as its paper" five baht coins, then whether it is transported to Jiangdong or the Central Plains, you can get it back
At least one hundred five baht coins. These one hundred five baht coins can be used to buy fish in Jiangdong and meat in the Central Plains. When returned to Xichuan, they can be sold for one hundred twenty to one hundred fifty coins. The extra twenty to five baht coins
Ten five-baht coins are the businessman's profit.
But Liu Bei cast a hundred big coins, which was about four grams of brass originally used to cast five baht coins. It was marked "a big coin is worth a hundred", and the value of the currency suddenly became a hundred times: the original value of one hundred coins was cast in four grams of copper.
A piece of Sichuan brocade worth five baht was bought by Liu Bei for a hundred bucks, which also had only four grams of copper. Therefore, Liu Bei's limited copper coins bought unlimited supplies. This allowed Liu Bei to enrich his treasury and
The homes of the people in Shu are surrounded by walls.
Liu Bei bought a piece of Shu brocade for four grams of copper for a hundred bucks, took it to Jiangdong and the Central Plains, and exchanged it for 120 to 1450 five-baht coins for four grams of copper, and then melted these five-baht coins.
Later, it was recast, and then the Shu brocade was purchased from the people in Shu. Readers will certainly be able to calculate how much profit was made during this period. If this cycle is repeated, the profit is much greater than that of weaving mats and selling shoes.
Can ordinary people do this kind of thing? Of course not, it will cost you your head. Anyone who steals the forging will be beheaded. This is the rule set by Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, but it can only control the ordinary people but not the noble families: "Officers and people
Hundreds of thousands of people died while stealing and casting money. Those who didn't realize that they were killing each other were invincible. There were more than a million people who were pardoned. However, they couldn't do it half-heartedly. There were no worries in the world, and they all cast money. And the people
The profit from casting money is small, and the cost cannot be calculated. Only true workmanship and treachery are committed by thieves."
Liu Bei and Liu Ba's currency reform only harmed the people in Shu who had no copper money savings: the families of prominent families accumulated a large amount of copper coins and bronze utensils, which could be used to recast "hundreds of coins" at any time, while ordinary people in small households had no money overnight.
There is no overnight money for food. They earn a little to eat, and the copper coins they earn are "hundreds of dollars" that no one wants to take. When you go to the Central Plains to buy meat and fish from Jiangdong, they only treat you as a hundred dollars.
At the cost of five baht, the people in Sichuan were cut off from the small-scale business of cross-regional trade.
There is another question here, that is, can’t the common people not accept hundreds of dollars in pawn? The answer is still no, not only in Xichuan under Liu Bei’s governance, but also in 90,000 miles across five thousand years, because what Liu Bei said at that time was an imperial edict,
If you don't listen, you will be beheaded - the handle of the knife is in Liu Bei's hand.
So can Liu Bei use the hundred coins he minted to buy things from Cao Cao and Sun Quan? The answer is of course no, because Cao Cao is not stupid, he knows that the copper standard is broken, and his status will be shaken - there are so many
Eyes are staring.
Cao Cao was not stupid, and Sun Quan was even more cunning. He directly minted copper coins with larger denominations. If he accepted Liu Bei's 100 yuan at face value, Liu Bei would have to accept his Daquan 500 and Daquan 1000 coins at face value. This time
It was Liu Bei's turn to quit.
At this time, the problem arises: Cao Cao and Sun Quan don’t have to accept it, but even if they accept it, they will pay a hundred for one. The big families in Shu have a lot of money, and they can cast it privately as long as they are willing. They can’t cheat Cao Cao and Sun Quan, and they can’t cheat Liu Bei, a big family in Shu.
Who was fooled by a hundred dollars?
The steward said with hesitation: "Isn't this... inappropriate?"
At this time, the eunuch from the palace was also in the shop. After the clerk emptied the Shu brocade from the cart, he entered the shop and said to the steward with a smile: "Just exchange these for gold. Don't worry about the rules.