There is a "Golden Altar Baizhang" in Huayang Cave in Maoshan, and Jintan County in Zhenjiang Prefecture got its name from it. This place has been a place of prosperity and prosperity since ancient times.
An apricot-yellow flag swayed in the north wind, and the four words "Yelai Restaurant" on it were clearly visible. This is a mom-and-pop shop with a small shop that has been open on the old street of the county town for more than ten years. Pan Yunsheng and his wife once
The two of them work hard to run this small shop. The business is neither good nor bad; life has to be lived.
"Shopkeeper, tie up the horse for us, make another pot of wine, cut two kilograms of beef, roast a chicken, bring a plate of peanuts, and fry a plate of vegetables." Several servants leading the horses came in, and the leader's voice
It's very big, with a righteous look.
"Oh my god, how can I let Brother Wang spend money again?" The other people were full of embarrassment.
"Hey, my brother, don't get angry. Come and have a drink of shochu with me. It's such a cold day." Brother Wang laughed loudly and told Pan Yunsheng, who had tied his horse back, "The wine must be hot and the beef must be hot."
Chewy, the chicken will be tender when roasted."
"Okay, please wait a minute." Pan Yunsheng hurriedly left, but he was thinking in his heart. There was a big word "驿" on the back of the clothes of these police officers. They must be the postmen of the horse post outside the county town. Could it be possible?
What kind of military information needs to be delivered by courier? It doesn’t look like they have leisure time to drink and eat meat, so the delivery should be ordinary official documents.
The hot food and wine would be ready in a moment. Pan Yunsheng, who usually likes to inquire about things, interjected, "It's such a cold day for the police officers to go out. Could it be that something big happened in the Yamen?"
After being complimented by someone, "Brother Wang" was in a good mood. He smiled broadly and said: "It's not a big deal, I just send some ordinary letters and packages for others."
"Which master is so proud that he has to work with several servants to set off together? Just now, I took the horse and looked at the boxes. Is there hundreds of pieces?" Pan Yunsheng asked again.
"Haha, there is no such thing as a master. They are all ordinary rich people who paid money to Ma Yi. Master Yi Cheng asked me to wait for the house number and send it to him." A tall postman said with a smile.
"No wonder Director Liu led his people to install house numbers on every household a few days ago. It turned out to be a gift of credit." Pan Yunsheng suddenly realized.
"Haha, Old Liu is lucky! A few years ago, he was just a false name, but now he is eating royal food. According to the decree of the Holy Emperor, the head of the house will receive salary during his tenure. This old Liu's salary is actually the same as mine.
"It's the same." "Brother Wang" curled his lips, he actually knew Mr. Liu.
"My dynasty has an ancestral system. Old Liu's position as head of the farm has to be rotated every year. If he is not in office, he will have no money. There is no comparison with you, big brother, who can eat the royal food for many years." A short and fat postman smiled.
Say.
Pan Yunsheng suddenly remembered his nephew who was far away in Shuyang County, Huai'an Prefecture, and asked timidly: "I dare to ask some of the messengers, if I go to Ma Yi to send a letter to Shuyang, how much money will it cost?"
"A few pennies!"
"Brother Wang" laughed loudly and said, "The shopkeeper is always joking. How much money does it cost to use our fast horse to deliver letters? Go and ask around in Ming Dynasty. Go to Shui Ma Station to send letters, which is the closest.
If it is thousands of miles away, it will be calculated as two cents; if it is a package, it will be more expensive based on weight. As the saying goes, "a letter from home is worth ten thousand gold", if you don't have money, don't go to the door of our horse post. Hahaha!
”
"Hahaha", all the postmen also laughed in unison.
Pan Yunsheng laughed awkwardly, but felt very bitter in his heart. Everyone said that he was a good emperor who loved his people like his own son. Today's Ming Dynasty was a time of peace and prosperity, but the two of them worked from dawn to dusk guarding this small shop, and they could barely maintain it.
I can’t even afford to send a letter! However, life is already pretty good these days. When the Tatars came over decades ago, they were even more hungry and full. Alas! Let’s save more money before sending a letter.
.
Several postmen were full of wine and food, and took advantage of the heat to deliver letters and parcels.
Suddenly someone was grabbing the banknotes. "Brother Wang" turned dark, "Brother, what are you doing? Are you slapping my brother in the face? The shopkeeper, you know how to banknote!"
He is really good at banknotes. He took out Zhang Daming's treasure banknotes from his pocket, and it turned out to be "One Guan".
The denominations printed by Emperor Guangwu were modeled on the denominations used by Taizu, and were divided into five grades: five hundred coins, three hundred coins, two hundred coins, one hundred coins and five grades. One of them was equivalent to one thousand coins of copper coins or one tael or four coins of silver.
One tael of gold is a genuine "big money".
Pan Yunsheng took the money and thought it was a banknote at first. When he took a closer look, he was stunned.
This paper is beautiful! The layout is more concise and well-proportioned than that of Taizu's time, the text is concise, the engraving is delicate, the size is similar to a banknote, and it is easy to carry. The body of the banknote is a vertical rectangle, and the flower column is decorated with dragons, twining angustifolia, cloud patterns, etc.
There are six characters "Da Ming Tong Xing Bao Chao" written on the top, the amount of the banknote is written on the top of the inner column, "Da Ming Bao Chao" is written on both sides of the money picture, and nine folds of seal characters "Tong Xing Tian Xia" are written in eight characters. What's even more surprising is that there is actually a hand-held sword printed on the back.
Portrait of Emperor Guangwu.
It is said that when the Treasure Banknote Collection Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs printed banknote samples, civil and military officials expressed their objections, saying that it was disrespectful to print the portrait of the Holy Sage on the banknote and let people touch it. But the emperor said, I will print my portrait on the banknote.
The portrait is printed on the banknotes in the hope that the people of the Ming Dynasty will take this precious banknote into circulation for my sake!
"Master, can you exchange it for copper coins or silver?" Pan Yunsheng begged repeatedly.
"Why, do you dare to refuse the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes? There is a portrait of the Holy One printed on it," Brother Wang said coldly.
"Is it possible that the shopkeeper has an itchy butt? The Lord has decreed that anyone who refuses to accept the treasure will be imprisoned by the officer, and the twenty bosses will be held responsible." Another postman helped.
Yes, I can’t afford to offend you!
Pan Yunsheng secretly screamed bad luck, gritted his teeth, found some copper coins from him, and secretly increased the money for food and drinks by dozens of cents.
"It's so expensive! Could it be a black shop!" Brother Wang and his entourage cursed as they went out to race.
"Alas!"
Seeing these people leaving, Pan Yunsheng sighed.
"Master, business is going very well today, why are you so unhappy?" Seeing that her husband was unhappy, Mrs. Zeng hurriedly tried to persuade her.
"It's quite unlucky today. I thought it was a banknote, but it turned out to be this." Pan Yunsheng took out the banknote in frustration.
"I heard from Chief Liu that this is the new money issued by the Holy Father. It is the same as silver money. What do you have to worry about?" Mrs. Zeng smiled.
"Ahem, you are a woman, what do you know? Our dynasty also issued this thing during the Taizu period. It was valuable at first, but it became less and less valuable as time went by, and finally turned into waste paper!"
"Ah!"
Zeng exclaimed, "This is a huge amount of money, equivalent to one tael of silver! But what should we do?"
The couple was depressed, and Mrs. Zeng suddenly remembered, "The head of the family, Chief Liu, said that these treasure notes are equivalent to silver. They can be used to pay taxes, or they can be exchanged at banks. The emperor has issued an edict. Which banker dares not to exchange them?"
, so business is prohibited. Why not take this treasure banknote to a bank and exchange it for silver?"
"Oh, madam, your words have awakened the dreamer! There are no banks in our small county, so I will go to the capital to exchange money. There are many banks there."
A good man, Pan Yunsheng, rode a donkey and traveled hundreds of miles day and night to go to a bank in Fucheng and exchange the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes for silver.
