Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 12
The meat that the shopkeeper said actually refers to the Sui five baht coin minted and issued after the founding of the Sui Dynasty, also known as the Kaihuang five baht.Qianwen five baht two-character seal script, the strokes are neat, the edges are wide, and the back and flesh of the money are well defined.

Rouhao originally refers to the sides and holes of round jade and coins. Because the five baht coins of the Sui Dynasty were well minted, people often called them Rouhao.

In the early years, the imperial court only allowed the Kaihuang five baht to be circulated, and sample coins were placed in the market places of various checkpoints. If the checked and compared coins did not match the sample coins, they would be destroyed for copper.

However, in recent years, the shortage of money has become more and more serious. The Emperor Daye added many coin casting furnaces in Yangzhou to cast coins. Because of the reduction of materials and the addition of tin and lead, the coins turned white.

In the past, the Kaihuang five baht copper coin weighed five baht and contained high copper, but the current copper coin is actually only three baht in weight and contains little copper.In the past, a thousand coins weighed four catties and three taels, but now a thousand coins weigh less than three catties.

Among the people, common people merchants are of course more willing to use Kaihuang five baht, but the money minted in the Daye Year cannot be rejected, and common people merchants have no choice but to end up with two prices in the market.

The exchange ratio between good meat and white money is two to three.

"It's better to replace them with meat." Qin Qiong took a look at the two copper coins handed over by the shopkeeper, and then said, "It's better to use meat, don't mix it with my white money."

"Please rest assured, the store has a century-old reputation, and what you say is what you say."

Luo Feng took the two copper coins and observed them for a while. The styles of the two coins were the same, for example, they were both round on the outside and square on the inside, and both had the word "five baht" written on them, but upon closer inspection, there were still many differences.

The outline of the meat is wider, the coin is thicker, and the color of the copper coin is red, because the main material is copper, the coin contains [-]% copper, [-]% lead, and one weighs five baht.

Although the coins minted in Yangzhou, the emperor of Daye, are also called Kaihuang five baht, they actually weigh more than three baht per coin, and are whitish in color and greatly reduced in copper content.

Yiguan meat is worth a thousand pieces, four catties and three liang, which is much heavier than white money.

It is said that after the Qin Dynasty unified the world, the currency was unified, and the coins were half taels, and one coin weighed half taels.Later, in the Han Dynasty, the coins became lighter and lighter, and finally five baht coins were minted.During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the currency was chaotic. After the Sui Dynasty unified the world, the Kaihuang five baht was minted. At the same time, private casting and the use of other old coins were strictly prohibited.

"Shopkeeper, how do you exchange gold and copper coins now?"

Luo Feng had some gold leaves from the county magistrate's daughter in his hand. Although these gold leaves were valuable, they were inconvenient to use, so he decided to simply exchange them for copper coins here.

"Is it better to exchange meat or free money?" the shopkeeper asked as usual.

Good meat has high credit and is extremely popular in the private market, but white money is also the official currency, and merchants are not allowed to refuse it.Luo Feng thought for a while, "Let's change it to white money, but it has to be big business white money minted in Yangzhou. The shopkeeper can't fool me and give me other privately minted white money or old white money."

There are also several kinds of white money. The Yangzhou five baht coin minted by the imperial court is really allowed to circulate. There are still a lot of old money from various dynasties and five baht coins privately minted by unscrupulous businessmen on the market. What's more worthless, many profiteers mixed up and traded these poor-quality white money to the common people, causing the common people to suffer.

"how can that be possible."

After seeing it, the gold leaf shopkeeper said that the color is very good, and he is willing to exchange it at the price of twelve Yangzhou five baht for one tael.

"It's better to exchange one tael for eight thousand. It's not taking advantage of you."

After weighing, the gold leaf is about three taels, so it can be exchanged for 36 Yangzhou five baht.

Thirty-six thousand pieces of Yangzhou five baht, weighing more than one hundred catties.

"Fortunately, you are exchanging money for nothing. If you exchange all the meat, I won't be able to exchange so much meat for a while." The shopkeeper said while arranging for the staff to bring the money over and count it.

The government has long stipulated that private merchants and people use money, and the people are free to trade less than ten guan, but silk cloth must be used for transactions of more than ten guan, mainly because there are too few copper coins.

The third uncle also asked Xiao Jiu and the others to come over and help count the money together. Luo Feng looked at such a large pile of copper coins, when did he count them one by one?

"Just order one bunch, weigh them after ordering, and then weigh each bunch. As long as the weight is the same, it will never go wrong. If the weight is light, just ask the shopkeeper to replenish it for us."

The shopkeeper smiled and praised Luo Feng's cleverness, while assuring, "You can order as you like, and there will never be a penny missing."

Qin Qiong didn't even weigh it, and put the twenty pieces of meat he bought into the bag.

"Actually, you don't need to exchange gold leaves for white money." He persuaded Luo Feng that any gold shop would be willing to exchange gold leaves for white money, but it is difficult to exchange white money for gold leaves.

"I can't save this little money. Anyway, if I want to use it, it's more convenient to exchange it for white money." Luo Feng didn't care too much. Store it in the cellar.

Luo Sanshu and the others were very serious about counting and weighing each string. They had to fight for a long time if they wanted to be a little sorry. In the end, the shopkeeper had no choice but to send two coins for each string to satisfy them.

Luo Feng held the 72 copper coins that came with the shopkeeper, and smiled helplessly. It's not that the third uncle and the others are stingy, but that everyone is used to living a hard life, and no one is a big spender.

"Let me invite everyone to dinner. There is a restaurant in front of us. We just have a meal and then buy some dry food."

"I want it." The third uncle looked at the copper coin and felt that he had meritorious service, so he calmly agreed to Luo Feng's proposal to treat guests.

"Aren't you going to change some money?"

"Don't change it, what's the matter, anyway, these silk cloths can be used when you take them back."

It was said to be a treat for dinner, but when we got to the restaurant, the third uncle only ordered the simplest soup cakes.

A big bowl of soup cakes for one person, nothing else.

"Third Uncle, I'm treating you, what would you like to order?"

"I ordered soup cakes with mutton soup. It's already very good. It's enough. Although I got a few rewards, I can't use them indiscriminately. I have to save some money!"

If it hadn't been for Luo Feng's fight for 72 copper coins from the gold shop just now, the third uncle probably wouldn't have taken advantage of Luo Feng to eat this meal.

"A bowl of soup and cakes for five cents is really dark. God damn it, kill us like pigs." The third uncle sat there but did not forget to hold his bag of money between his legs, accusing him Store profiteers.

A bowl of five cents a bowl of noodles is actually not too expensive. After all, they are still noodles in mutton soup. The key is that the price of food has been rising continuously in the past two years.

During the reign of Kaihuang, the prosperity and peace, especially in the year of abundant grain, the price of rice in Chang'an was only five or six yuan per bucket of rice, and the average price of a bucket of rice for young people was about ten yuan.

However, since entering Daye, the price of food has been rising continuously. In addition, there are frequent floods, droughts and famines.

Now a bucket of rice costs [-] Wen, wheat millet is slightly cheaper, but flour is not cheap either.

A big bowl of soup and cakes sells for five cents. In fact, the shop doesn't make much money, it's just barely making ends meet. Life is hard.

"Shopkeeper, I see that you sell haggis soup, how do you sell it?"

"A big bowl for five cents, full of ingredients and delicious, you'll be satisfied, how many bowls would you like?" Seeing Luo Feng's question, the shopkeeper hurriedly greeted him.

"Give us nine bowls of haggis soup, remember to put some green onions." Luo Feng said.

"Don't waste money, there is already mutton soup in this soup cake, so it's a waste to order any more." The third uncle said hurriedly.

Xiaojiu over there is staring at the haggis soup without moving. How can I have a chance to eat mutton? Even pork is rarely eaten throughout the year.

"Third Uncle, it's just a bowl of soup."

Nine people, one bowl does not support a bowl of haggis, the total is [-] Wen.

The 72 Wen coins I just got at the gold shop disappeared in a blink of an eye, and I also paid the whole money, and took [-] coins to pay the bill.

Fortunately, the taste is indeed very good, and the quantity is also very good.

Everyone's belly is round and their mouths are full of oil. They are very satisfied.

"I ate a few buckets of corn in one meal. It's terrible. Don't dare to do this again." The third uncle wiped his mouth, but at the same time he was heartbroken. Ten wen is not the same as eating six buckets of millet.

As he said that, he reached out to take ten copper coins to Luo Feng, "I can't let you pay by yourself."

"Third Uncle, agree to treat me, so it's boring for you to do this." Luo Feng quickly pressed Third Uncle's hand.

Qin Qiong also said on the side, "Uncle Luo, don't be too polite, I won't be ashamed if I do this again."

After everyone persuaded, the third uncle finally stopped taking money.

"Alright, I'll just have a meal for you today. Let's hurry to the grain store to buy some grain and then go home. I'm always not at ease with so much money outside."

Luo Feng said with a smile, "Don't worry, third uncle. I don't worry about bandits now. I wish they would come to my door. Don't forget, my second cousin is a fierce general. Come one to beat one, come two But if you play a pair, if you capture the bandit, you can exchange it for a reward."

Everyone laughed out loud.

Everyone smiled and went to the grain store. When they asked about the price, the price of grain was still about the same as before.

Dou Mi has [-] Wen, Dou Millet has [-] Wen.

There are all kinds of grains such as rice, wheat, millet, beans, shelled and shelled, and ground flour. There are new grains this year and old grains for several years.

Prices also vary.

Luo Feng originally wanted to buy more, and then asked the store to deliver food to his door, but the store said it would cost more.The third uncle and the others couldn't bear it anymore, "Just buy a stone first, pick it up yourself, and buy it again next time. You don't need to ask them to give it away, and you have to pay the wronged money."

So they all agreed to buy a stone and pick it back by themselves, so it would be hard for Luo Feng to buy more and ask someone to give it away.

The third uncle picked and chose, and finally bought a stone of millet grain that had been aged for two years, and it was only twelve cents a bucket.

The other teenagers all followed suit and bought Chen Su, one stone per person.

Luo Feng thought for a while, but he was not like them. He finally chose two buckets of milled flour, bought two buckets of milled rice, and bought a stone of new millet harvested this year.

After paying [-] Wen for rice noodles, Luo Feng got another [-] Dou of rice noodles.

Gold Leaf exchanged 36 pieces of white money, five pieces of meat and silk cloth worth three pieces were also exchanged for white money, and eight pieces became twelve pieces of white money. He actually had 48 pieces of white money on him. After spending the 72 coins of the zero, and adding another 88 coins, there are still 150 coins left, which add up to nearly [-] catties.

With such a heavy sum of money plus more than a hundred catties of grain, he couldn't afford to go home. In the end, he found another horseman and bought a ten-year-old horse. There are nearly 38 pennies left.

In the end, the horse carried the money, and Luo Feng carried the rice noodles, and went out of the city happily with everyone to go home.

(End of this chapter)