A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 660 Reforming Currency
In the middle of the Liu Song Dynasty, the world was in chaos because of the rebellion of the clan kings in various places. The clan kings in various places minted a large number of copper coins and small coins that were less than copper.

During the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty rectified the coins and minted five baht coins. These five baht coins were called the Kaihuang Five Baht coins. They were exquisitely made and made of good copper, but many of them were collected by wealthy families.

Later, Yang Guang made another mess, because the three expeditions to Liaodong minted a large number of five-baht coins that were less than copper, causing the world's coins to become even more chaotic.

After Wang Xuanjing confiscated a large number of bronze utensils and statues, he sent people to Nanyang and Lingnan to transport a large amount of copper materials, as well as a large amount of miscellaneous money collected by the court. After mixing the money with the copper materials in proportion, he began to cast copper coins. .

As for silver coins, now that the world has been settled, the population is insufficient and commerce is not prosperous enough, so there is no need to worry about silver coins.

What's more, after hundreds of years, the large amount of silver coins minted by Daqian are now almost no longer circulating in the market. They have been hidden in cellars by nobles and noble families from all over the world.

It is not easy to get those people to take out the money in the cellar. There are too many such misers in this land.

But Wang Xuanjing is not too worried. Even if he does not take out the silver coins, he can still find a way. You must know that the largest silver mine discovered in the world is still in Wang's hands.

The imperial court could exchange supplies with the Wang family for silver ingots to mint silver coins.

When casting copper coins, you need to determine the weight of the copper coins and their currency value. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, the court will lose money. Just like a five-baht coin, it is said to be five baht, but in fact it weighs three baht.

This time the imperial court cast Zhenguan Tongbao and Kaiyuan Tongbao. Kaiyuan Tongbao was cast by Emperor Li Yuan. Wang Xuanjing did not refuse, so they cast it together.

In the money-casting prison, the heat wave is rolling, and the golden metal solution is quickly introduced into the grinding tool, and then put into the water, and the heat steams. After the temperature of the copper coins drops, these grinding tools will be opened and the minted coins inside will be taken out one by one.

On the front of the copper coin are written four official scripts: Zhenguan Tongbao. Wang Xuanjing specially asked Ouyang Xun, a calligrapher, to write these words.

Portions are plentiful.

Then I looked at the color of the coins. These copper coins were yellow-red, and the copper content also met the standard.

Of the copper coins minted, copper accounted for 70%, lead accounted for 20%, and tin accounted for 10%. The profits from the court's coinage accounted for half.

When Li Yuan ascended the throne, he had Kaiyuan Tongbao cast. However, Chang'an only controlled Guanzhong at that time and there was not much copper material. The number of Kaiyuan Tongbao cast was limited.

Now the Supreme Emperor asked people to cast Kaiyuan Tongbao just to remember the past. Li Shimin would not refuse these small things.

In addition to this Zhenguan announcement, the four words Kaiyuan Tongbao were also written.

The Kaiyuan Tongbao and Zhenguan Tongbao cast by the imperial court have the same weight and size. At the same time, there is a circle around the edge of the copper coin to prevent the copper coin from being cut.

After Wang Xuanjing discussed with everyone, he changed the copper coins of the Tang Dynasty to one coin per coin, one tael per ten coins, and six pounds and four taels per thousand coins.

The craftsmen nearby use scissors to cut off the excess parts of the copper coins. These scraps will be collected and returned to the furnace. Then the craftsmen will polish the cut coins, and soon the coins will be minted.

Wang Xuanjing took the coins sent by his men, picked up a coin and weighed it in his hand, and then picked up a miscellaneous coin and weighed it.

The back of the copper coin was smooth and flat, with no words on it. Wang Xuanjing planned to wait until the money-making supervisors in various places began to mint coins, and then let the money-making supervisors in various places mint the place names of various places on the back.

Once there is a problem with the money in that place, you will know it as soon as you check it.

After Wang Xuanjing had already cast the copper coins, he sent them to the palace as soon as possible. The first batch of copper coins cast were mother coins. After being reviewed by the emperor, they would be distributed to the money-making supervisors in various places, and then the money-making supervisors in various places would This mother money is then used for casting. Li Shimin was very satisfied when he saw the copper coins still with residual heat in his hand. The copper coins were full of weight and beautifully cast, so the people easily accepted them.

After seeing the quality of the coins, Li Shimin directly issued an edict, ordering money-casting prisons all over the world to cast Kaiyuan Tongbao and Zhenguan Tongbao coins.

Wang Xuanjing also asked Chang'an Coin Mining Supervisor to start minting coins in large quantities.

Because the three expeditions to Liaodong caused poverty all over the world, the salaries of officials in the Tang Dynasty were somewhat insufficient during this period, forcing Li Shimin to only make a batch of deerskin money.

Use the deerskin money to pay salaries to your officials and nobles. This kind of deerskin money is made of white deerskin, which is sewn with gold thread. One buckskin coin is equivalent to ten strings of coins.

Li Shimin used several deer skins to pay salaries to the officials, and personally promised that when the court had money, the officials could come and exchange the deer skin money for copper coins. If Li Shimin dared to do this, someone else would probably rebel.

Wang Xuanjing ordered craftsmen everywhere to use all their firepower to cast large quantities of copper coins, and then distributed these coins to officials in the form of salary.

Of course, those White Deer coins have also begun to be recycled, and the court will still honor such things.

Naturally, the court would not lose money. The more copper coins were minted, the greater the profits would be for the court. Just be careful not to mint them privately.

Throughout the dynasties, private casting has been a headache for those in power. The best solution to this problem is Daqian. Because Daqian has advanced casting technology, it is impossible for the people to imitate it, and there are a large number of silver coins. At the same time, the court severely suppressed it and controlled copper materials. .

Therefore, there were not many private mints during the Great Qian Dynasty, but not after the Great Qian Dynasty. Private mints were made in various places and even by the government. The sect kings in various places directly asked the official mints to conduct private minting.

Wang Xuanjing has made a lot of preparations for issuing new money this time, including many punishments for illegal coinage.

Private coinage was treated as treason and three tribes were punished.

Deterred by torture, at the same time, the imperial court controlled a large amount of copper materials and restricted the circulation of copper materials. At the same time, instructions were issued to all localities, and heavy rewards were given for those who found illegally minted money. If they concealed it and failed to report it, they would be punished according to the same crime.

Suppress private coinage in various ways.

Privately minting coins damages the country's reputation and must be severely cracked down on.

In addition to these, privately minting coins also requires certain skills. Ordinary people do not have this technology. Only powerful people, nobles, and nobles in various places have this technology.

Only they acquired a large number of craftsmen through war and could mint money.

The imperial court also kept a watch on these people. In fact, both Li Shimin and Wang Xuanjing were waiting for someone to jump out.

You must know that some people need to be killed in a group to intimidate them, otherwise they will always find ways to do whatever they want.

Wang Xuanjing wanted to kill the chicken and scare the monkeys, and take the opportunity to eliminate a group of noble and powerful families. The strength of these noble families was too strong and must be weakened.

In this way, not only can one gain a large amount of property, but it can also scare others, and the land obtained can also be used as official land, which can be said to be a triple win.

(End of this chapter)