Chapter 282: Bribery demand, currency war among the three countries
Wang Chen said with some scruples: "It's okay if we don't accept the hundred-dollar coin that almost caused harm to the Three Kingdoms at once, but wouldn't it be inappropriate if we minted more hundred-dollar coins to harm the people?"
Huang Gou'er interrupted and said indifferently: "What does this mean? Whether it is His Majesty or a big family in Shu, even if it is the upstarts of Shu like the Zhuge family or Xiang Sima, the same is true.
If you have good copper or copper coins, you can do this. Then I will just give you a little bit to keep you safe."
Wang Chen smiled knowingly and said: "This is natural. I still understand this rule. I will ask the nobles to help me in the palace!" Wang Chen thought to himself, this backer came so easily.
The so-called currency war, as the name suggests, is to use currency as a weapon to attack the enemy's currency and arbitrage its strategic materials. The goal is to attack the opponent economically and weaken the opponent while strengthening one's own strength. Therefore, in essence, Generally speaking, currency war belongs to the category of economic war.
For its successful implementation, two prerequisites must be met: First, the currency issued can circulate to the other country; second, the currency issued can replace the other country's currency in the other country's market. Perhaps Liu Bei did not launch a currency war subjectively. Thoughts, but objectively it did produce such a chain reaction.
The first point is to circulate currency to the other country. In fact, this is very easy to do. Although the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu were politically divided at that time, they were economically integrated. They all used the same metal currency, which was the Eastern Han Dynasty. The five baht coins left behind can therefore be circulated and used by each other without any obstacles.
The key is the second point, which involves a principle of political economics, which means that when there are two currencies with different actual values circulating in the market at the same time, the currency with the higher actual value, that is, the good currency, will inevitably be forced to withdraw. In the circulation field, currency with lower actual value, that is, bad currency, will flood the market. This is the famous theory of "bad currency drives out good currency".
Understand this principle, let's look at Liu Bei's large-scale casting of one hundred and five baht coins. In addition to amassing wealth from the people of the country, after these large amounts of money flow out of the country, they will also have a huge impact on the currency markets of Soochow and Cao Wei. impact.
Because one of Liu Bei's five-baht coins is equivalent to one hundred five-baht coins. After all, the title of "one hundred five-baht coins" did not come for nothing. This caused heavy losses to those who used the original five-baht coins, and they would Hide the five-baht coins in your hands and use Liu Bei's one-hundred-five-baht coins; or destroy and recast the original five-baht coins into one-hundred-and-five-baht coins. This is the principle of "bad coins drive out good coins".
In short, no matter what, the final result is that the direct one-hundred-five-baht money drove out the original five-baht money in the market. In this way, Liu Bei objectively replaced the other party's currency and arbitraged the other party's materials by issuing a large amount of his worthless money. , ultimately destroying the other party’s economic purpose.
Faced with Liu Bei's issuance of large amounts of false money and his aggressive currency devaluation policy, how did Wei and Wu respond? Next, let's take a look at Wei's situation first.
Wei is located in the north. Since the Yellow Turban Uprising at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the social economy has suffered serious damage, and the monetary economy has been declining day by day. Later, under the impact of Dong Zhuo's weight-reduction coins, the monetary economy was completely destroyed and basically retreated.
In the state of the real economy, both public and private parties rarely use money, but instead use rice and silk as the medium of exchange.
After Cao Cao unified the north, he drew on the experience of "the Qin people conquered the world with agriculture, and the military established the western regions with farming". In order to increase grain income and ensure the supply of military supplies, he vigorously promoted farming and gradually restored the social economy.
After Cao Cao initially settled in the north, he moved the capital to Xuchang in the first year of Jian'an (196), and was named the Prime Minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty by Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty.
So he personally led his army south to conquer Liu Biao and Sun Quan, hoping to achieve unification. However, he was defeated miserably in Chibi by the coalition forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei led by Zhou Yu.
At that time, Cao Cao resumed the use of five-baht coins in the north in order to raise food and grass. However, he restored the use of old coins or minted new coins. There is no record in the official history, and private accounts are contradictory.
Cao Cao actually minted money in Luoyang. He originally wanted to use this to rectify the currency system, replace the bad money left by Dong Zhuo, and resume the use of currency, so as to stabilize society, boost people's morale, and also facilitate him to allocate social resources and strengthen management.
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However, the two major coin minting centers in Luoyang and Chang'an during the Han Dynasty were successively destroyed by war, destroyed by that damn Dong Zhuo. The money-making technology accumulated in the two Han Dynasties was also lost. Due to the lack of technical support, the five coins minted by Cao Cao
Although the baht coin weighs three baht,
But the caster was inferior, not much better than Dong Zhuo's bad money, and the price was even higher than Dong Zhuo's bad money. Therefore, it was not popular and could only be sealed in the treasury.
In 221 AD, the second year of Wei Huangchu, the first year of Zhangwu of Shu Han Dynasty, which was the year when Liu Bei conquered Sun Wu, Cao Pi also ordered the resumption of the use of five baht coins in March.
This was because he was preparing to conquer Soochow and resumed the use of currency mainly to facilitate the raising of needed military supplies from society.
The currency Cao Pi put into society was the money Cao Cao deposited in his treasury.
Later, because the Battle of Yiling broke out between Wu and Shu, Cao Pi hoped that they would consume each other, so he did not send troops to attack Wu.
At this time, Shu's hundreds of coins began to flow into Wei in large quantities, causing Cao Wei's five-baht coins to be driven out of the market. What was circulating in the market was Shu's worth of hundreds of coins, and the price of grain began to rise sharply.
They were purchased and shipped away in large quantities by Shu merchants.
As soon as Cao Pi saw that the situation was not good, he "used grain as the price of five baht" and continued to "use grain and silk as the market." This meant that on the grounds that grain prices were too expensive, he abolished copper coins and resumed the use of physical currency. However, using grain
The shortcomings of silk as a means of exchange were quickly exposed.
At that time, in order to make small profits, people added water to the rice or weaved the silk very thin to make a profit.
Although the severe punishment of beheading is imposed on those who break the law, it cannot be banned.
Therefore, Sima Zhi, the chief minister in charge of the economy, once suggested resuming the use of five-baht coins during a discussion in the court. He said: "Using money will not only enrich the country, but also save punishment."
This means that using currency can not only increase the revenue of the treasury, but can even reduce crime.
So in the first year of Taihe, Emperor Wei Ming Cao Rui once again decided to resume the use of copper coins and recast a new coin called "Cao Wei Five Baht".
Although Cao Wei Wu Baht is still named after Wu Baht, its weight is less than four baht, 1.4~2.5 grams.
This weight loss is the result of the impact it received from the Shu Kingdom during the Cao Pi period.
Even such a small amount of money to lose weight, after the resumption of use, still attracted a large amount of money from the Shu Kingdom to flow into the Wei Kingdom. While pushing up prices, it also arbitraged a large amount of materials from the Wei Kingdom.
Helpless, Cao Rui had no choice but to abolish copper coins again and resume the use of real currencies such as grain and silk.
At that time, the Wei State paid its ministers with rice or cloth, and barter was used in the villages. Until now, no money has been minted in the north. This shows that it has a long memory, and it was also given to the Shu State as a hundred coins. I’m afraid of the torment.
In doing so, Cao Rui made the real economy act like a firewall, which not only cut off the penetration of Liu Bei's hundred and five baht money into the Wei State, but also blocked the huge impact caused by the subsequent inflationary policies of Shu and Wu. The impact has maintained the gradual recovery of Wei's economy and the relative stability of society.
Although bartering is a bit primitive, it is still quite effective to use hundreds of coins to deal with Shu, and Wu State will not sit still and wait for death. If Shu is allowed to use hundreds of coins to defeat Wu, The supplies were swept away like a white wolf with empty gloves. How could that be done?